GIFT  OF 


QE  WT  &  SHEUW6 


GOLGOTHA 


A  Study  of  the  Sweet,  Sad 
Story  of  the  Cross 


D.  J.  KAVANAGH,  S.  J. 


TIIK   J 

1189-1124 


-1124    MISrjIOX    .-ST.        ,     ,         i 
AX    FHANt/ISM/Oj')^ 


COPYRIGHT,    1915 

BY 
D.   J.   KAVANAGH,   S.  J. 


Imprimi  potest 


REV.  R.  A.  GLEESON,  S.  J., 
Praepositus  Provincialis 

Californiae 


Imprimatur 


EDWARDUS  J.  HANNA, 
Administrator 

Sancti  Francisci 


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PREFACE 

A  desire  to  contribute,  in  an  humble  way, 
towards  the  realization  of  the  policy  of  our  Holy 
Father,  Pope  Benedict  XV,  which,  as  he  tells 
us,  is  to  cause  ."the  charity  of  Christ  to  prevail 
among  men,"  has  prompted  the  publication  of 
these  little  reflections  on  the  Passion  of  our  Di- 
vine Savior. 

The  world  has  tried  human  love-motives  and 
the  human  love-motives  have  failed.  It  has  tried 
human  brotherhoods  and  they  have  fallen 
with  a  fearful  crash.  It  has  placed  exaggerated 
confidence  in  the  natural  goodness  of  man,  and 
the  natural  goodness  of  man  has  proved  to  be 
but  a  new  name  for  a  very  old  and  a  terribly 
dangerous  thing  called  selfishness.  Human  mo- 
tives are  pitiably  insufficient  to  meet  the  demands 
of  the  world.  Man  needs  a  motive  that  is  not 
of  the  world,  if  he  is  in  earnest  quest  of  a  love 
that  is  not  worldly.  "A  new  commandment  I 
give  unto  you,"  said  Christ  on  the  eve  of  His 
death,  "that  you  love  one  another,  as  I  have 
loved  you."  This  is  the  very  marrow  of  Chris- 
tianity, this  it  is  that  makes  Christianity  lovable 
and  fruitful  of  good;  but  a  passive  admiration 
of  its  sublimity  will  not  do.  We  must  study  how 


8  Preface 


Christ  loved  us,  if  we  wish  to  put  in  practice 
this  sublime  precept  of  love  which  formed  His 
last  will  and  testament. 

The  final  chapter  in  the  life  of  Christ  tells  us, 
as  nothing  else  can,  how  He  loved  the  world, 
it  teaches  a  love  that  is  not  selfish,  a  love  that 
is  universal,  a  love  that  does  not  grow  cool 
when  a  sacrifice  is  demanded,  even  though  the 
sacrifice  be  death.  The  story  of  His  Passion 
summarizes  His  whole  career  on  earth  and 
though,  by  every  event  of  His  life,  we  are 
strongly  impelled  to  love  our  fellow  men,  we  are 
irresistibly  impelled  to  love  by  a  detailed  study 
of  His  death. 

The  thoughts  here  offered  for  prayerful  con- 
templation have  been  gathered  from  various 
sources,  chiefly  from  L'Homme-Dieu  Souffrant 
of  the  fervent  Passionist,  Pere  Seraphin,  and 
from  The  Watches  of  the  Passion,  by  Father 
Gallwey,  S.  J.  Many  ideas,  too,  have  been  bor- 
rowed from  the  eloquent  sermons  of  Father 
Bernard  Vaughan,  S.  J.,  of  Father  Robert  Kane, 
S.  J.,  and  of  the  lamented  Father  Hugh  Benson. 

The  method  followed  throughout  is  that  of  St. 
Ignatius,  who,  in  his  book  of  "Spiritual  Exer- 
cises," insists  a  great  deal  on  what  he  calls  "Con- 
templation," which  consists  in  studying  the  per- 
sons, the  words  and  the  actions  of  the  sacred 


Preface 


narrative,  with  a  view  to  spiritual  and  lasting 
profit. 

Finally,  the  author  wishes  to  state  that  this 
little  book  is  intended  chiefly  as  a  souvenir  of 
the  Lectures  delivered  at  St.  Ignatius  Church, 
on  the  Wednesday  evenings  of  Lent,  1915.  "Gen- 
uine Christian  Science"  was  the  subject  of  the 
Lenten  Lectures  and  "Genuine  Christian  Science" 
is  the  subject  of  this  little  book.  St.  Paul  taught 
the  substance  of  Christian  Science  when  he  wrote 
to  the  Corinthians:  "And  I,  Brethren,  when  I 
came  to  you,  came  not  in  loftiness  of  speech,  or 
of  wisdom,  declaring  unto  you  the  testimony  of 
Christ.  For  I  judged  not  myself  to  know  any 
thing  among  you,  but  Jesus  Christ  and  Him 
crucified" 


CONTENTS 

Prologue   13 

The  Three  Tribunals 21 

The    Mob 32 

Father  Forgive  Them ! 42 

The   Divine   Healer 54 

Mary,  His  Mother 68 

Forsaken !    81 

I  Thirst 95 

It  Is  Finished 106 

Epilogue    114 


PROLOGUE 

It  was  Thursday  night,  one  of  those  bright, 
starlit  nights,  we  may  suppose,  of  an  Oriental 
spring.  The  soft  rays  of  the  rising  moon  fell 
in  streams  of  silver  upon  the  Temple  and  the 
closely-huddled  dwellings  of  the  Holy  City.  Jeru- 
salem slept  and  presented  to  view  the  appearance 
of  a  vast  collection  of  sepulchres.  How  like  to 
death  is  sleep !  How  like  and  yet  how  unlike ! 
Quietude  and  rest  and  dreams  accompany  both, 
but  in  the  case  of  sleep  the  quietude  and  rest  are 
real  and  the  dreams  but  empty  nothingness,  while 
in  death,  the  dreams,  if  indeed  they  may  be 
called  dreams,  are  real  and  sometimes  fearfully 
real,  and  the  peaceful  rest,  it  may  be,  is  only  an 
appearance.  On  that  memorable  Thursday  night 
Jesusalem  slept,  but  not  all  Jerusalem;  there 
were  two  distinct  groups  of  men  awake  and,  as 
we  shall  see,  very  much  awake. 

In  the  house  of  Caiphas,  a  magnificent  palace 
that  crowned  Mount  Sion  and  looked  with 
haughty  disdain  upon  the  city,  even  as  its  occu- 
pants looked  with  haughty  disdain  upon  the  peo- 
ple, there  was  held  a  council  of  High  Priests. 
There  was  a  thorn  in  their  side  that  must  be 
plucked  out.  They  could  no  longer  endure  the 


Golgotha 


popularity  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  For  three 
years  He  had  been  winning  the  applause  of  men ; 
the  holiness  of  His  life,  the  sublimity  of  His 
doctrine,  the  power  He  possessed  and  the  good- 
ness which  ever  accompanied  its  exercise,  all 
these  things  united  to  win  the  people  to  His 
cause.  But  a  few  days  previously  they  shouted 
their  Hosannas  of  welcome  and  even  proclaimed 
Him  King  of  the  Jews.  It  was  more  than 
Caiphas  and  his  fellow  priests  could  endure. 
They  wanted  to  control  things,  they  wanted  to 
be  leaders,  socially,  politically,  religiously,  and 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  stood  in  their  way.  That  is 
why  a  council  was  in  session  on  that  memorable 
Thursday  night. 

The  other  group  whom  sleep  has  not  yet  con- 
quered are  strangers,  as  the  expression  was,  in 
Jerusalem :  they  are  Galileans.  Twelve  of  them 
walk  slowly  and  sadly  through  the  silent  streets 
and  out  towards  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane. 
Their  Master  is  none  other  than  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth against  Whom  the  priests  are  plotting.  He 
is  sad,  sad  even  unto  death,  that  is  to  say,  so 
sad  that  His  Sacred  Heart  is  ready  to  break. 
He  takes  three  of  His  followers  apart  from  the 
others,  asks  them  to  watch  with  Him  and  then 
prostrating  Himself  on  the  ground  begins  to 
pray. 


Golgotha 


To  pray !  What  is  the  use  ?  What  good  does 
it  do?  Can  prayer  relieve  the  sufferings  of  the 
world?  Can  it  feed  the  hungry  or  clothe  the 
naked?  Wait  a  moment.  In  the  council  of 
High  Priests  they  do  not  pray,  they  have  lost 
all  knowledge  of  the  art  of  prayer,  they  think 
worldly  thoughts  and  devise  worldly  things. 
Do  they  feed  the  hungry  or  clothe  the  naked? 
Wait  and  see  how  it  fares  with  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth at  their  hands,  with  Jesus  of  Nazareth, 
Who  never  did  an  unkind  deed,  Who  never 
spoke  an  unkind  word,  but  went  about  from 
place  to  place  doing  good  and  teaching  the 
world  to  imitate  His  example. 

Between  the  prayerless  plotters  and  the  prayer- 
ful Savior  there  is  a  connecting  link.  It  is  the 
traitor,  a  disciple  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  He 
hastens  through  the  silence  of  the  night  in  a 
direction  opposite  to  that  taken  by  his  Master. 
He  feels  his  heart  throb,  he  looks  back,  he  hesi- 
tates and  then  rushes  on  again.  His  eyes  glare, 
his  brow  is  knit,  his  teeth  set,  still  onward  he 
urges  his  hurrying  steps  until  he  reaches  the 
palace  that  crowns  Mount  Sion.  "Caiphas !" 
he  cries.  "I  want  to  speak  to  Caiphas !"  "Judas," 
someone  whispers,  "one  of  the  twelve!"  He 
casts  his  glaring  eyes  from  one  priest  to  another 
and  when  he  has  recognized  Caiphas,  he  speaks. 


1 6  Golgotha 


You  need  not  enter  that  assembly  to  hear  the 
traitor's  words;  you  can  hear  them  from  with- 
out, you  can  hear  them  ringing  down  the  long 
stretch  of  centuries,  you  can  hear  them  now  on 
all  sides  and  from  all  classes  of  men ;  they  have 
become,  it  might  almost  be  said,  the  standard  of 
human  activity:  "What  will  you  give  me  and  I 
will  betray  Him  unto  you?" 

Now  the  great  drama  has  begun.  The  history 
of  the  world  knows  no  work  similar  to  that 
which  Christ  is  facing.  Men  have  saved  their 
country  from  wars,  from  invasion,  from  destruc- 
tion. Statesmen  have  constructed  laws  and 
founded  empires  and  have  ruled  nations.  It  is 
all  glorious  work  and  ennobling,  but  the  great- 
est human  endeavor  is  transitory,  a  mere  ripple 
on  the  ever  changing  surface  of  human  history, 
a  bubble  doomed,  sooner  or  later,  to  burst  and 
be  no  more.  Now  you  may  contemplate  the 
beginning  of  a  Divine  work.  Christ  is  about  to 
take  upon  himself  the  sins  of  the  world,  the 
sins  of  all  men  from  Adam  to  the  last  child  of 
the  race.  As  God  He  sees  it  all, — the  Almighty 
dethroned  to  make  room  for  beastly  passions, 
heresies  breaking  with  the  Truth,  blasphemies 
unutterable,  rebellions  against  legitimate  author- 
ity, revolutions  that  shed  torrents  of  human 
blood,  impurities  that  defile  human  nature,  hurl- 


Golgotha  17 


ing  it  from  the  dignity  of  angels  to  the  level  of 
the  brute,  dishonesty  and  drunkenness,  lying  and 
hypocrisies,  in  one  word,  humanity  in  the  sordid 
grasp  of  moral  defilement, — as  God  He  sees  it 
all  and  as  Man  He  bows  beneath  the  burden, 
and  takes  upon  Himself  the  sins  of  the  world. 
He  becomes  the  vicarious  Sinner,  that  is  to 
say,  He  offers  Himself  to  stand  between  the 
sinner  and  the  justice  of  an  all  holy  God. 

This  voluntary  substitution  of  Himself  in 
place  of  the  sinner  is  not  without  a  struggle. 
"Father,"  He  cries,  "if  possible  let  this  chalice 
pass,"  spare  Me  this  monstrous  burden  against 
which  My  whole  being  rebels,  "yet  nevertheless 
not  My  will,  but  Thine  be  done !"  He  under- 
stands what  it  means,  He  sees  the  horrors 
awaiting  Him,  He  seems  to  falter  but  does  not 
really  falter.  His  prayer  is  in  substance  this: 
"My  Father,  the  burden  is  heavy,  the  impending 
sufferings  strike  terror  into  My  human  soul, 
still  if  it  is  Thy  will  I  bow  beneath  the  burden 
and  offer  Myself  for  the  suffering."  He  knew 
that  it  was  His  Father's  will.  He  knew  that 
God  so  loved  the  world  as  to  give  His  only 
begotten  Son  for  its  Redemption  and  so,  though 
the  prayer  is  a  petition,  it  is  at  the  same  time,  a 
voluntary  oblation.  He  is  to  suffer  because  He 
wills  it.  "Father,"  the  prayer  may  be  inter- 


1 8  Golgotha 


preted,  "since  it  is  Thy  will  to  save  the  souls 
of  men  by  My  Passion  and  Death,  I  offer  my- 
self for  the  momentous  work.  I  take  upon  My- 
self the  sins  of  the  world.  Let  Thy  justice 
strike  Me,  wound  Me,  bruise  Me,  but  spare  the 
sinner !" 

If  you  wish  to  study  the  circumstances  of  that 
prayer,  you  may  recall  the  details  of  the  Gospel 
narrative, — how  the  words  were  repeated  three 
times,  how  the  inward  conflict  caused  a  sweat 
of  Blood,  how,  during  it,  the  Savior  was  left 
alone  by  the  sleeping  Apostles  and  how  He 
lovingly  complained  that  they  could  not  watch 
one  hour  with  Him.  But  perhaps  you  will  get 
a  more  vivid  impression  of  what  took  place  if 
you  recall  the  words  of  the  prophet.  "Who  is 
this,"  he  asks,  "that  cometh  from  Edom  with 
dyed  garments?"  "It  is  I,"  he  answers  in  the 
person  of  Christ,  "It  is  I  that  speak  justice  and 
am  a  defender  to  save."  "But  why  is  Thy  ap- 
parel red  and  Thy  garments  like  those  that 
tread  the  wine-press?"  "Because  I  have  trod- 
den Gethsemane  alone." 

Truly  alone,  but  not  for  long.  While  the 
Apostles  slept  the  traitor  was  awake,  the  priests 
were  awake  and  toiled  in  exaggerated  prepara- 
tion for  the  seizure  of  their  Enemy.  A  strange 
band  had  been  hastily  gotten  together,  Jewish 


Golgotha  19 


soldiers  who  formed  the  Temple  Guard,  were 
joined  by  a  contingent  of  the  Roman  Garrison 
from  the  Tower  of  Antonia,  and  to  these  were 
added  the  servants  of  the  High  Priests,  all  heav- 
ily armed  with  swords  and  spears  and  clubs, 
and  all  feeling  the  importance  of  the  great 
work  in  hand.  A  great  work  indeed!  They 
were  to  seize  One  Who  knew  no  weapon  other 
than  goodness  and  love!  They  were  provided 
with  lanterns  and  torches  to  seek  for  One  Who 
had  spoken  openly  and  moved  fearlessly  through 
the  Holy  City  and  Who  in  secret  had  done 
nothing. 

The  details  of  the  arrest  of  the  Savior  are 
familiar.  The  two  groups  of  men  meet. 
Weakness  encounters  strength,  love  is  on  the 
one  side  and  unspeakable  hatred  on  the  other. 
There  is  the  kiss  of  the  traitor,  the  exagger- 
ated zeal  of  Peter,  the  manifestation  of  power 
by  Christ,  whose  gentle  answer,  "I  am  He," 
"had  in  it  a  strength  greater  than  the  Eastern 
wind,  or  the  voice  of  thunder,  for  God  was  in 
that  'still  voice'  and  it  struck  them  to  the 
ground";  there  is  the  dispersion  of  the  Apos- 
tles and  then  the  binding  with  cords  and  chains 
and  Jesus  of  Nazareth  is  led  away  a  captive! 
It  is  all  over  now;  beautiful  were  the  lessons 
He  taught,  majestic  His  life  amongst  men  and 


20  Golgotha 


wonderful  was  the  exercise  of  His  power  and 
goodness,  but  He  is  a  Prisoner  now.  No  signs 
appear  in  the  heavens,  there  is  no  roar  of  thun- 
der, no  lightning  flash,  no  devouring  fire  from 
heaven  to  consume  the  impious  captors.  Noth- 
ing but  a  weary  unarmed  Man  surrounded  by 
a  band  of  soldiers  is  seen  by  the  few  terrified 
Galileans  who  had  followed  Him  for  three 
years.  The  hands  that  were  never  used  except 
in  deeds  of  mercy  and  of  love  are  weighted 
down  with  chains;  the  eyes  that  could  penetrate 
into  the  very  sanctuary  of  one's  soul  are 
dimmed  with  tears,  the  ears  that  listened  with 
compassion  to  the  wail  of  the  sick  and  life- 
weary  are  now  filled  with  insults  and  boastful 
jeers  of  a  despicable  band  of  soldiers,  and  He 
is  urged  along  through  the  night,  over  the 
brook  of  Cedron,  up  the  steep  slope  beyond,  to 
the  palace  of  Caiphas. 


THE  THREE  TRIBUNALS 

The  strange  Prisoner  is  subjected  to  several 
trials  and  to  indescribable  ignominy.  We  may, 
however,  for  purposes  of  contemplation,  reduce 
the  trials  to  three.  Christ  had  taught  us  that, 
to  gain  eternal  life,  we  must  encounter  and 
overcome  a  threefold  enemy,  the  World,  the 
Flesh  and  the  Devil.  He  now  allows  Himself, 
for  our  instruction,  to  be  conducted  before  three 
distinct  tribunals,  which  symbolize  the  great 
trilogy  of  wickedness.  To-day  many  spurn  the 
teachings  of  Christ,  some  even  go  so  far  as  to 
say:  "We  love  the  World,  we  pamper  the  Flesh, 
we  defy  the  Devil."  Let  them  see  how  it  fares 
with  the  Savior  at  the  hands  of  these  enemies 
of  man's  immortal  soul! 

The  division  which  is  here  followed  is  alto- 
gether arbitrary ;  in  no  single  trial  was  there  but 
one  influence  at  work.  All  of  those  who  as- 
sumed the  character  of  judges  of  Jesus  Christ 
were  prompted  by  the  World,  the  Flesh  and  the 
Devil.  Still,  in  each  case,  there  seems  to  stand 
out  preeminently  some  special  passion  or  some 
pronounced  influence.  St.  Thomas  Aquinas  tells 
us  that  the  three  tribunals  before  which  Christ 
appears  may  be  viewed  as  symbols  of  the  three 


22  Golgotha 


concupiscences;  the  Court  of  Pilate  symbolizes 
the  Concupiscence  of  the  Eyes,  that  of  Herod, 
the  Concupiscence  of  the  Flesh,  while  the  tri- 
bunal of  High  Priests  is  an  impersonation  of 
the  Pride  of  Life.  Such  a  division  harmonizes 
better  with  the  degree  of  malice  manifested  by 
the  different  persons  concerned,  but,  to  keep  to 
the  chronological  order  of  events  and  the  Scrip- 
tural order  of  the  Concupiscences,  we  may  study 
the  Savior  encountering  Worldliness  in  the  pal- 
ace of  Caiphas,  Luxury  in  Herod's  Court,  and 
Diabolical  Wickedness  in  the  trial  before  Pilate. 
The  Jewish  nation  was  eminently  religious, 
but  the  representatives  of  that  religion  became 
mere  creatures  of  pagan  authority.  The  Su- 
preme Council,  and  the  High-priesthood  itself, 
were  usurped  by  sceptics,  generally  known  as 
Sadducees,  who  believed  neither  in  a  future 
life,  nor  in  the  guiding  Providence  of  God. 
Religion  was  for  them  to  end  with  this  life,  it 
was  a  profitable  means  of  securing  peace  and 
order,  but  it  had  nothing  supernatural  in  it. 
Between  the  Sadducees  and  the  people  there 
were  the  Doctors  of  the  Law,  or  Pharisees. 
They  troubled  themselves  about  the  letter  of  the 
law  and  missed  its  spirit.  Their  religious  sense 
was  blunted  by  the  prevalent  materialism  of  the 
age  and  they  sought  for  a  kingdom  in  this 


Golgotha  23 


world.  No  wonder  the  people  lost  all  sense  of 
their  destiny  and  of  the  supernatural  and  looked 
for  the  coming  of  a  kingdom  on  earth  in  their 
intoxication  of  pride!  Their  hopes,  like  those 
of  the  present  day  humanitarians  and  social- 
ists, were  the  hopes  of  madmen. 

It  was  into  the  midst  of  this  people  that 
Christ  came.  He  came  with  a  religion  that 
was,  in  every  sense  of  the  word,  supernatural. 
Any  one  sentence  of  His  doctrine  such  as, 
"Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit,"  overturns  all 
worldliness ;  studied  as  a  whole,  it  manifests 
other-worldliness  at  every  angle.  In  the  first 
place  He  was  the  Son  of  God,  equal  to  His 
Father,  His  religion  had  nothing  transitory 
about  it;  nothing  imperfect,  nothing  finite,  noth- 
ing exclusive.  It  embraced  all  men,  all  time,  all 
truth,  all  goodness.  In  a  word  it  was  Divine 
because  its  purpose  was  to  lift  men  to  God, 
because  the  means  used  for  the  accomplishment 
of  this  purpose  were  intended  for  the  sanctifica- 
tion  of  men's  souls. 

The  Pharisees  and  Sadducees  and  the  people 
knew  this  supernatural  phase  of  His  teaching, 
but  they  did  not  want  it.  They  wanted  inde- 
pendence of  Roman  rule,  they  wanted  an  earthly 
kingdom,  they  wanted  a  Messias  who  would 
change  earth  into  a  paradise,  and  so  the  decisive 


24  Golgotha 


question  at  His  first  trial  was  this:  "Tell  us 
plainly,  art  Thou  Christ  the  Son  of  the  Blessed 
God?  Answer,  I  adjure  Thee,  in  the  name  of 
the  living  God !" 

They  did  not  ask  the  momentous  question  in 
the  spirit  of  those  moderns  who  represent  the 
"sonship"  of  God  as  the  common  privilege  of 
all  mankind ;  they  asked  it  in  the  spirit  in  which 
Christ  claimed  this  divine  Sonship.  They 
wanted  to  know  if  He  was  in  truth  and  by  na- 
ture, not  merely  in  figure  and  by  adoption,  the 
Son  of  the  Most  High  God.  It  was  with  them 
a  question  of  the  Divinity  of  Jesus  Christ. 

"Tell  us  plainly;  art  Thou  Christ  the  Son  of 
the  Blessed  God?"  they  asked. 

"I  am !"  was  the  brief  answer  of  the  Prisoner. 

"He  hath  blasphemed!"  shouts  one. 

"What  need  have  we  of  further  testimony?" 
asks  another. 

"He  is  worthy  of  death!"  concludes  a  chorus 
of  voices  and  thus  the  WORLD  condemns  the 
supernatural  claim  of  Christ's  teaching  and  the 
supernatural  character  of  His  Divine  Person. 

Their  present-day  imitators,  who  profess  rev- 
erence for  Him  because  He  was  the  Son  of  God 
just  as  we  all  are  the  sons  of  God,  if  we 
would  but  realize  our  sonship,  though  appar- 
ently asserting  the  dignity  of  man  against  the 


Golgotha 


materialism  of  the  world,  are  in  reality  denying 
the  claims  of  Jesus  Christ  and  exclaiming  with 
the  godless  priesthood:  He  hath  blasphemed. 

Repeatedly  had  Christ  claimed  to  be  the 
Eternal  Son  of  God,  repeatedly  He  had  claimed, 
and  His  whole  life  proves  the  claim,  that  He 
was,  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word,  Divine. 
Now  with  greater  emphasis  than  ever  before,  He 
asserts  His  Divinity  and  with  a  full  realization 
that  the  worldly  minded  men  before  whom  He 
stands  cannot  brook  the  idea  of  the  claim,  He 
adds  to  the  assertion  the  great  prerogative  of 
the  Godhead,  the  judgment  of  the  living  and 
the  dead:  "Hereafter  you  shall  see  the  Son  of 
man  sitting  on  the  right  hand  of  the  power  of 
God  and  coming  in  the  clouds  of  heaven." 

Such  is  the  substance  of  the  first  trial.  He 
is  found  guilty,  nay  He  pleads  guilty  of  the 
"crime"  which  the  WORLD  will  not  pardon, 
"that  He  is  in  truth  the  Son  of  God."  We 
shall  now  study  Him  in  His  trial  by  the  second 
great  Enemy  of  the  Supernatural,  the  FLESH. 

Herod  was  an  adulterer  and  a  murderer.  He 
was  a  murderer  because  he  was  an  adulterer. 
The  two  great  crimes  go  hand  in  hand  even 
now.  Adultery  and  all  the  allied  sins  of  im- 
purity so  warp  the  soul,  so  darken  the  mind 
that  even  the  foulest  of  all  foul  crimes,  murder, 


26  Golgotha 


becomes  a  thing  of  no  special  heinousness  to 
the  impure  mind.  The  reference  is  not  only  to 
that  kind  of  murder  which  stained  Herod's  soul 
with  the  blood  of  the  Baptist,  but  to  that  more 
despicable  kind  that  made  Herod's  father  guilty 
of  the  blood  of  Innocents.  Murder  lurks  in  the 
wake  of  impurity. 

In  the  appearance  of  Christ  before  Herod  we 
may  learn,  and  this  is  the  lesson  of  importance 
now,  what  the  Flesh  and  the  votaries  of  carnal 
pleasure  think  of  Christ  and  what  Christ  thinks 
of  them.  There  is  only  one  thing  worthy  of 
our  notice  in  the  trial  of  the  Savior  by  Herod, 
it  is  the  terrible  silence  of  Jesus  Christ.  He 
spoke  to  Judas,  He  spoke  to  the  High  Priests. 
He  spoke,  as  we  shall  see,  to  Pilate ;  but  before 
Herod  He  hung  His  head  and  would  not  open 
His  lips! 

Herod  mocked  Him  and  sent  Him  back  to 
Pilate.  It  is  not  without  reason  that  we  con- 
sider the  trial  before  Pilate  as  one  in  which 
the  Savior  of  the  world  encounters  our  third 
great  Enemy,  the  DEVIL. 

Such  a  direct  attack  seems  to  be  the  only 
explanation  of  the  wickedness  that  reached  its 
highest  pitch  before  the  Roman  Governor.  A 
storm  of  frenzied  passions  raged  with  ever  in- 
creasing violence  until  it  swallowed  up  the  Just 


Golgotha  27 


One.  It  was  set  in  motion,  to  all  outward  ap- 
pearances, by  the  Pharisees,  who  moved  about 
inspiring  the  rabble  with  new  ideas  and  giving 
keenness  to  their  thirst  for  blood. 

Their  efforts  were  met  with  ready  response 
by  the  brutal  mob  and  the  shouts  were  hurled 
with  overwhelming  vehemence  against  the  weak- 
ness of  Pilate  until,  yielding  to  their  demands, 
he  passed  the  death  sentence  on  the  Savior  of 
the  World! 

That  is  all  the  historian  can  find  in  the  rec- 
ords of  the  trial,  that  is  all  that  appears  on  the 
surface;  but  a  closer  analysis  will  discover  an 
influence  that  knows  no  explanation  in  human 
psychology. 

"Behold,"  said  Pilate,  "I  bring  Him  forth  to 
you,  that  you  may  know  that  I  find  no  cause 
in  Him."  And  they  cried  out  saying,  "Crucify 
Him!  Crucify  Him!" 

That  is  the  substance  of  the  trial.  No  crime 
is  found  in  Him,  but  still  He  must  be  put  to 
death.  Even  to  the  end  Pilate  protested  his 
innocence  of  the  blood  of  this  "Just  Man."  It 
is  impossible  to  understand  the  situation,  unless 
we  go  below  the  surface  and  attribute  it  to  the 
influence  of  Satan. 

That  there  are  Satanic  influences  at  work  to- 
day is  not  a  difficult  thing  to  prove.  You  need 


28  Golgotha 


not  think  of  the  occultism  of  the  psychical 
research  societies,  nor  of  the  ravings  of  those 
who  worship  at  the  shrine  of  Isis  Unveiled. 
You  need  not  restrict  your  thoughts  to  the 
maniac  madness  of  the  bomb-thrower  nor  to 
the  still  more  culpable  madness  of  the  intelli- 
gence that  inspires  the  dreadful  deed.  These 
are  the  culminating  points  of  Satanic  wicked- 
ness ;  less  pronounced  and,  in  consequence,  more 
dangerous  are  the  workings  of  Satan  in  Society. 
There  are  homes  where  the  name  of  God  is 
never  mentioned,  there  are  theaters  that  flaunt 
before  the  eyes  of  innocence  all  that  is  low  and 
lowering  in  human  wickedness,  there  are  dis- 
plays of  art  that  would  make  the  pagans  blush, 
and  newspapers  that  revel  in  immoral  and  im- 
modest delineations.  All  these  and  countless 
other  forces  of  wickedness  are  marshaled  to- 
gether into  a  great  army  and  move  along  under 
the  direction  of  the  Powers  of  darkness. 

But  let  us  return  and  see  how  it  fares  with 
Jesus  Christ  under  Satanic  influence. 

First  He  was  scourged  and  crowned  with 
thorns.  It  is  a  frightful  thought  and  full  of 
horrors.  The  soldiers  conduct  the  Savior  of 
the  world  into  an  underground  dungeon  to  be- 
gin their  bloody  work.  The  Roman  scourging 
was  at  best  so  terrible  that  the  victim  rarely 


Golgotha  29 


survived  and  on  the  present  occasion  the  sol- 
diers who  hated  the  Jews  and  especially  those 
who  ambitioned  power,  signalized  themselves 
with  unusual  brutality.  The  blows  descended 
and  the  Sacred  Blood  poured  out  in  torrents 
and  yet  the  strange  Sufferer  uttered  not  a  word 
of  complaint,  not  a  sigh  of  pain,  not  a  murmur 
of  intensified  agony.  The  soldiers  grew  ex- 
hausted, they  cut  the  cords  that  bound  their 
Victim  and  He  fell  in  a  pool  of  Blood.  It  is 
a  terrible  sight,  the  naked,  mangled  body  of  the 
Son  of  God!  It  was  perhaps  the  very  scene 
that  the  prophet  had  before  his  eyes  when  he 
described  our  Blessed  Lord  as  "a  worm  and 
no  man,  the  reproach  of  men  and  the  outcast 
of  the  people." 

Take  one  glance  at  the  awful  picture  and  run 
away.  Where  shall  we  go?  Shall  we  join 
Judas?  We  sinned  as  he  sinned.  He  cannot 
bear  to  think  of  the  sufferings  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Shall  we,  with  him,  try  to  stifle  the  thought? 
No!  Let  us  not  join  Judas;  he  is  in  despair, 
in  black,  blind,  demon-like  despair !  Look,  he 
rushes  to  the  High  Priests,  throws  their  sordid 
money  down  before  them,  secures  a  halter  and 
hangs  himself!  Shall  we  go  to  Herod's  Court? 
He  does  not  think  of  the  worm  and  no  man! 
His  court  rings  with  the  music  of  sensuousness, 


30  Golgotha 


his  sycophantic  admirers  flatter  him  and' pander 
to  his  sinful  desires.  Shall  we  join  him?  No! 
No!  Our  blessed  Savior  would  not  speak  to 
him,  would  not  so  much  as  look  at  him !  Shall 
we  with  Pilate  wash  our  hands  and  say:  "I 
am  innocent  of  the  blood  of  this  Just  Man?" 
No !  because  it  were  a  lie !  He  was  bruised  for 
our  iniquities,  He  was  wounded  for  our  sins. 

I  know  where  we  shall  go!  Out  in  the  quiet 
of  the  city  there  is  a  Woman.  She  is  called 
the  Refuge  of  Sinners.  She  is  the  Mother  of 
Him  Who  was  scourged.  She  is  in  deep  grief, 
a  sword  of  sorrow  is  piercing  her  soul,  but  she 
will  be  glad  to  welcome  us,  to  console  us  and 
to  tell  us  what  to  do.  "Yes,  my  child,"  she 
will  say  to  us,  "your  sins  have  caused  that 
Sacred  Blood  to  flow,  your  sins  put  bitterness 
into  the  lash,  but  fear  not,  it  is  for  you  He 
suffers.  He  is  the  Lamb  of  God,  that  taketh 
away  the  sins  of  the  world.  He  will  take  away 
your  sins  if  you  go  to  Him  and  stay  with  Him 
to  the  end." 

We  may  then  return  with  security.  The 
scene  is  changed.  The  worm  is  now  a  King, 
but  O  God,  a  mock  King  only!  He  has  upon 
His  head  a  crown,  a  crown  of  thorns,  in  His 
hand  a  mock  sceptre,  one  of  the  reeds  used  in 
the  scourging,  and  about  His  mangled  body  a 


Golgotha  3 1 


purple  robe,  a  disreputable  looking  rag  that 
clings  to  His  flesh  and  is  rendered  more  purple 
by  His  Sacred  Blood. 

He  stands  upon  the  porch  of  Pilate  and  faces 
the  frenzied  mob.  At  His  side  the  Roman  Gov- 
ernor motions  for  silence  and  leaning  out  over 
the  balcony  he  cries  aloud :  "Behold  the  Man !" 
Suddenly,  and  with  the  roar  of  a  storm-tossed 
sea  beating  against  the  rocky  barriers  of  earth, 
there  comes  the  echo:  "Away  with  Him,  Cru- 
cify Him!"  "But  He  hath  done  no  evil!" 
"Away  with  Him,  Crucify  Him!" 

O  what  a  strange  mad  thing  a  mob  may  be! 
But  yesterday  they  shouted:  "Hosanna  to  the 
Son  of  David !"  to-day  they  cry :  "Give  unto 
us  Barabbas!"  And  your  King?  "Crucify  Him! 
Crucify  Him!"  But  His  Blood?  "His  Blood  be 
upon  us  and  our  children!" 

And  Pilate  released  unto  them  Barabbas  and 
delivered  Jesus  to  be  crucified. 


THE    MOB 

It  happens  on  a  little  hill  called  Golgotha, 
outside  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  at  about  the  sixth 
hour,  noonday  according  to  our  reckoning.  It 
is  the  occasion  of  a  great  gathering  in  the  city. 
Thousands  have  come  from  far  and  near  to 
celebrate  the  Passover  and  unconsciously  to 
play  a  strikingly  important  part  in  an  event 
greater  than  the  historic  deliverance  of  the 
Israelites  from  the  bondage  of  Egypt.  They 
are  to  take  part,  a  very  undesirable  part,  in  the 
deliverance  of  the  world  from  the  bondage  of 
Satan,  Sin  and  Death.  It  is  noon  and  were.it 
not  for  the  unexpected  development  of  events, 
the  trumpet-call  would  be  announcing  the  hour 
for  the  sacrifice  of  the  paschal  lambs.  Now 
there  is  no  trumpet  sound,  no  sacred  functions 
are  in  progress,  but  an  universal  shout  and  the 
frantic  excitement  of  the  rabble  proclaims  the 
hour  for  the  Sacrifice  of  the  Lamb  of  God! 

The  meridian  sun  is  beating  down  upon  the 
assembled  multitude,  most  of  whom  are  ex- 
hausted by  the  toil  and  excitement  of  the  morn- 
ing. They  had  followed  the  Prisoner  from  the 
palace  of  Caiphas  to  the  Praetorium,  thence  to 
Herod's  Court  and  back  again  to  the  Praetor- 


Golgotha  33 


ium,  where  for  hours  they  have  shouted  for  His 
death.  There  is  no  record  of  a  pause  during 
that  entire  fateful  morning.  From  the  early 
hours  for  most  of  them,  from  the  previous 
afternoon  for  some,  there  was  no  respite,  no 
rest,  not  even  time  given  for  food  or  drink. 
And  yet  in  spite  of  the  sun's  heat,  in  spite  of 
the  fatigue,  in  spite  of  their  hunger  and  conse- 
quent exhaustion,  they  have  gathered  on  the 
hillside,  and  are  struggling  for  a  place  of  van- 
tage. They  have  prevailed  upon  the  weakness 
of  Pilate,  and  they  are  not  going  to  miss  the 
great  spectacle. 

What  a  strange,  weird  thing  human  nature 
is !  If  we  should  but  serve  God  and  exert 
ourselves  for  the  benefit  of  our  fellow  men 
with  even  a  slight  degree  of  the  energy  that 
an  unusual  excitement  can  provoke,  how  vastly 
different,  how  consolingly  better  the  world 
would  be!  What  an  unreflecting  thing  human 
nature  is!  But  yesterday  this  same  mob 
shouted  their  thundering  Hosannas  and  to-day 
they  have  clamored  for  His  blood.  Public 
opinion  is  very  plastic!  It  may  be  easily 
molded,  it  may  be  more  easily  changed. 
"  'Hosanna'  1  to-day ;  'Crucify  Him !'  to-mor- 
row," summarizes  the  history  of  mob-psy- 
chology. It  is  the  same  now  as  it  was  at  the 


34  Golgotha 


time  which  we  are  studying.  It  will  be  the 
same  until  the  end. 

We  shall  the  better  understand  what  the  Son 
of  God  had  to  endure,  if  we  will  mingle  with 
the  rabble  that  has  gathered  on  Golgotha.  It 
is  a  strange  mixture  of  every  class  and  condi- 
tion of  men.  Priests  are  there  with  their 
drawn  faces  and  hypocritical  pretence,  young 
levites  not  fully,  perhaps,  but  sufficiently 
steeped  in  hypocrisy  to  cause  them  to  make 
some  religious  remarks  upon  the  terrible  event 
that  we  are  about  to  witness.  There  are  Phari- 
sees and  Sadducees,  and  minions  of  the  adul- 
terous Herod;  Roman  soldiers  and  the  Temple 
Guard  vying  with  one  another  in  brutality  and 
in  Satanic  wickedness;  strangers  who  have 
come  up  to  Jerusalem  for  the  Passover  and 
natives  of  the  Holy  City;  men  and  women  and 
children,  all  come  out  to  see  the  end,  to  see 
the  Lamb  of  God  slaughtered  on  the  top  of 
Golgotha.  They  form  a  vast  sea  of  humanity, 
a  storm-tossed  sea,  whipped  to  fury  by  the 
frenzied  passions  that  are  fanned  to  ever  in- 
creasing intensity  by  the  promptings  of  the 
High  Priests. 

"This  Man  or  Barabbas?"  asks  one,  repeating, 
in  blasphemous  jest,  the  appeal  of  Pilate. 


Golgotha  35 


"Barabbas!  Barabbas!"  comes  back  in  sicken- 
ing vehemence  the  Deicidal  cry  of  the  madmen. 

"But  your  King?"  continues  the  jest. 

"Crucify  Him!  Crucify  Him!"  roars  the 
fearful  echo. 

"His  Blood?"     Some  one  ventures. 

And  with  the  persistency  of  evil  doers  they 
shout:  "His  Blood  be  upon  us  and  our  chil- 
dren!" 

There  is,  in  the  Church's  ritual,  a  most  plain- 
tive appeal  directed  to  this  misguided  rabble 
and  to  all  men  and  women,  who  by  their  sins 
unite  with  them  in  heaping  insult  and  injury 
upon  the  Son  of  God. 

"O  My  people!  what  have  I  done  to  thee?" 
asks  the  Savior,  "Or  in  what  have  I  saddened 
thee,  reply  to  Me. 

"For  I  led  thee  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt 
and  thou  hast  prepared  a  cross  for  thy  Savior. 

"I  led  thee  through  the  desert  for  forty 
years  and  I  fed  thee  with  manna,  and  I  led 
thee  into  a  really  good  land  and  thou  hast 
prepared  a  cross  for  thy  Savior!" 

The  heart-rending  appeal  continues,  at  some 
length.  All  the  favors  conferred  on  His  chosen 
people  are  enumerated  and  similar  favors  con- 
ferred upon  us  are  implied,  and  after  each  verse 
the  Church  cries  out  for  mercy  and  for  pardon. 


36  Golgotha 


"O  Holy  God,  O  Holy  Power,  O  Holy  Eter- 
nal God,  have  mercy  on  us!" 

Have  mercy  on  us !  This  prayer  must  not  be 
forgotten.  In  studying  the  frenzy  of  the  mob 
on  Golgotha,  we  must  not,  for  a  moment,  lose 
sight  of  the  fact,  that  we  were  there,  that  our 
sins  and  ingratitude  and  indifference  clamored 
for  the  Savior's  death.  When  in  our  endeavor 
to  please  men,  we  sacrifice  the  service  of  God, 
when  with  the  known  law  of  God  on  the  one 
hand,  and  on  the  other  some  human  motive, 
some  transitory  gain,  we  choose  the  latter  at 
the  expense  of  the  former,  we  join  in  the  cry: 
"Give  unto  us  Barabbas !" 

When  unmindful  of  the  loyalty  we  owe  to 
the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  we  allow  her  fair 
name  to  be  reviled,  or  through  culpable  igno- 
rance know  not  how  to  defend  her  honor,  when 
we  even  allow  that  there  is  some  reason  and 
justification  in  the  treatment  which  she  receives 
at  the  hands  of  the  infidels  of  France  or  Por- 
tugal, or  of  the  bandits  of  Mexico, — we  say 
equivalently :  Let  her  be  crucified. 

O  Holy  God,  O  Holy  Power,  O  Holy  Im- 
mortal God,  have  mercy  on  us! 

The  excited  mob  was  impervious  to  the  ap- 
peals which  God  would  have  made  to  their 
hearts.  They  had  ears  and  they  heard  not. 


Golgotha  37 


They  had  eyes  and  they  saw  not  that  their 
Victim  was  indeed  the  Son  of  God,  was  in 
truth  the  King  of  the  Jews.  He  was  not  the 
kind  of  a  king  they  wanted.  He  was  not  a 
Messias  after  their  hearts'  desire.  They  wanted 
a  leader  in  arms,  they  wanted  a  man  who 
would  enable  them  to  cast  off  the  yoke  of  the 
Roman,  they  cared  nothing  and  knew  nothing 
of  the  more  disgraceful  yoke  of  Satan. 

Perhaps  there  were  some  in  that  frenzied 
throng  who  felt  in  their  hearts,  what  they  dared 
not  openly  express,  a  little  spark  of  sympathy 
for  the  Condemned.  The  accusations  made 
against  Him  were  known;  He  disturbed  the 
peace  and  tried  to  make  Himself  King. 

"He  restored  my  little  crippled  child  to  me!" 
thinks  a  grateful  mother.  "When  all  human 
means  had  failed  and  all  human  hope  was  dead, 
He  with  a  single  word  made  her  whole  and, 
with  a  look  of  love  that  pierced  my  heart,  He 
gave  her  back  to  me.  That  was  not  disturbing 
the  people." 

"He  fled  into  the  desert  when  we  wished  to 
honor  Him,"  thinks  another.  "He  spurned  our 
applause  and,  during  His  whole  life,  had  no 
place  whereon  to  rest  His  head.  He  loved  the 
poor,  the  outcast  and  the  sinner,  He  lived  with 
them  and  toiled  for  them  and  taught  them  to 


38  Golgotha 


look  upward,  to  hope  and  sin  no  more!  That 
was  not  the  usual  way  of  seeking  kingly 
honors !" 

What  those,  who  had  retained  a  little  speck 
of  human  sympathy,  might  have  said,  was  in 
part  expressed  by  a  few  sorrowing  women  who 
caught  a  glimpse  of  the  Condemned  One  and 
wept  for  Him.  "But  how  strange  a  Sufferer 
He  is!"  these  good  women  are  forced  to  ex- 
claim, "He  told  us  to  weep,  not  for  Him,  but  for 
ourselves  and  children." 

While  the  mob  is  struggling  for  a  favorable 
place  whence  to  view  the  last  scene  in  the  life 
of  Jesus  Christ,  the  Roman  soldiers,  assisted 
by  the  Temple  guard,  are  preparing  the  details 
of  the  bloody  tragedy.  They  have  cleared  the 
top  of  Golgotha  of  the  over-anxious  rabble, 
and  while  some  are  detailed  to  hold  back  the 
excited  spectators  who  are  elbowing  one  an- 
other in  their  determination  to  keep  in  sight  of 
the  Victim,  others  are  busy  in  the  work  of  cru- 
cifixion. What  do  the  anxious  spectators  see? 
and  O  good  God,  what  do  they  hear?  They 
hear  the  oaths,  the  curses,  the  obscene  jests  of 
the  soul-quenched  Roman  soldiers.  They  hear 
the  repeated  blows  of  the  hammer,  the  rattle 
of  the  nails,  the  dull  thud  of  excruciating  agony 
caused  by  a  misdirected  blow. 


Golgotha  39 


And  what  do  they  see?  It  is  too  terrible  to 
narrate.  Close  your  eyes  to  it.  Draw  the  cur- 
tain over  it  and  pray  to  God  for  mercy.  They 
see  Him  who  was  the  most  beautiful  among  the 
sons  of  men,  Him  Whom  the  prophets  and  the 
Patriarchs  of  old  longed  to  see  and  did  not  see, 
Him  whom  the  Prophet  Simeon  saw  and  ex- 
claimed: "Now  Thou  dost  dismiss  Thy  servant, 
O  Lord,  according  to  Thy  word  in  peace,  be- 
cause my  eyes  have  beheld  Thy  salvation." 
They  see  Him,  the  beauty  of  Whose  face,  the 
grandeur  of  Whose  presence  make  Heaven 
what  it  is,  while  His  absence  makes  hell  a 
place  of  horror.  They  see  Christ  our  Lord, 
but  O  how  different  from  what  might  be  ex- 
pected, a  worm  and  no  man,  the  reproach 
of  men  and  the  outcast  of  the  people,  a  leper 
and  as  one  struck  by  God!  They  see  His  gar- 
ments torn  from  Him  and  His  wounds  re- 
opened. They  see  His  hands  and  feet  nailed 
to  the  Cross  and  the  Cross  raised  on  high  and 
allowed  to  drop  with  a  sickening  thud  into  the 
hole  prepared  for  it. 

There  is  one  thing  they  do  not  like.  In  their 
blind  rage  they  had  thought  only  of  the  cruci- 
fixion, and  of  the  degrading  insult  that  would, 
by  this  manner  of  death,  be  branded  into  the 
very  name  of  Jesus;  but  now,  as  they  gaze 


40  Golgotha 


upon  the  Cross  and  see  the  mangled  Body  be- 
tween two  robbers,  they  are  suddenly  made 
conscious  of  an  insult  that  has  been  directed 
against  themselves  by  the  astute  Pilate.  Con- 
spicuous over  the  head  of  Jesus  hangs  a  tablet 
bearing  an  inscription  in  Hebrew,  Greek  and 
Latin,  that  can  be  read  by  every  passer-by.  It 
informs  them  that  this  Man,  nailed  to  the 
Cross,  between  two  robbers,  is  "The  King  of 
the  Jews."  Even  from  the  Cross  the  King  of 
kings  reigns.  The  Jews  saw  the  insult  and 
asked  Pilate  to  change  the  wording,  to  write 
not  "King  of  the  Jews,"  but  that  "He  said, 
I  am  King  of  the  Jews."  Their  petition  was 
unheeded.  "What  I  have  written,  I  have  writ- 
ten," said  Pilate,  and  so  the  obnoxious  inscrip- 
tion remained  to  the  end.  "Jesus  of  Nazareth, 
King  of  the  Jews." 

To  us  the  picture  is  familiar  and  full  of 
unspeakable  comfort.  Jesus,  our  Love,  is  cruci- 
fied! Literally  they  have  dug  His  hands  and 
feet.  They  have  numbered  all  His  bones.  Our 
sympathy  for  Him  in  His  sorrow  is  mingled 
with  deepest  faith  and  hope  of  obtaining 
through  Him  pardon  for  the  sinful  past,  and 
strength  against  the  temptations  of  the  future. 
With  love  we  draw  near  to  the  Cross  and  look 
without  fear  upon  His  blood-stained  face  and 


Golgotha  41 


lacerated  body,  or  we  remain  at  a  distance  and 
prostrate  in  sorrowing  sympathy  we  beg  of 
Him  to  give  to  our  eyes  a  fountain  of  tears 
that  we  may  weep  for  our  sins. 

There  is  only  one  thing  that  can  and  ought 
to  cause  alarm;  it  is  the  temptation  to  regard 
the  crucifixion  as  something  that  does  not  con- 
cern us  personally.  "Behold,"  cries  the  prophet, 
"there  is  blood  upon  thy  hands."  Yes,  there 
is  indeed  blood  upon  our  hands  and  there  is 
blood  upon  our  souls,  but  we  need  not  fear. 
He  will  wash  away  every  stain  from  our  souls, 
if  we  but  linger  a  little  while  in  the  shadow 
of  the  Cross  to  acknowledge  our  sins  and 
to  beg  pardon  for  them.  Have  mercy  on  us, 
O  crucified  Savior,  have  mercy  on  us.  Wash 
us  from  our  iniquity,  so  that  "no  trace,  no  mark, 
no  scar,  no  stain,  no  slightest  sign  be  left  to 
show  where  sin  has  been!"  Let  Thy  bright 
clear  grace  flood  our  souls  and  bathe  our  in- 
most being  till  it  reflect,  "like  purest  crystal, 
Thy  loveliness."  Let  a  drop  of  Thy  Sacred 
Blood  touch  our  sin-stained  souls  and  they 
will  become  white  with  whiteness  of  Angelic 
innocence ! 


FATHER  FORGIVE  THEM! 

Through  tear-dimmed  eyes,  the  Savior  looks 
down  from  His  Cross  upon  the  maddened  mul- 
titude. Like  dogs  they  surround  Him,  gnash- 
ing their  teeth,  like  hungry  wolves,  the  coarse, 
brutal  rabble  feed  their  souls  on  His  excruciat- 
ing agony  of  pain.  He  sees  grim  hatred 
stamped  upon  their  upturned,  pallid  faces,  He 
penetrates  beyond  the  surface  and  views  their 
souls  defiled  by  the  heinousness  of  sin.  One 
look  is  all  He  can  bear;  He  turns  away  from 
the  horrible  scene  and  directs  His  gaze  and  His 
thoughts  towards  heaven. 

During  His  passion,  He  rarely  spoke.  Like 
a  lamb,  He  was  dumb  before  His  shearers;  but 
when,  on  several  occasions,  He  did  speak,  it 
was  to  give  utterance  to  some  momentous 
truth  or  to  some  solemn  and  love-inspired 
warning.  Now  with  His  eyes  fixed  on  heaven, 
He  is  about  to  speak.  Surely  His  utterance 
will  be  of  infinite  importance,  we  must  not  miss 
a  syllable  of  it,  we  must  listen  not  with  the 
ears  alone,  but  with  an  attentive  mind  and  a 
heart  aglow  with  love. 

"Father,"  He  cries.  The  word  is  not  ad- 
dressed to  us;  He  speaks  to  His  Father  in 


Golgotha  43 


Heaven.  He  is  beginning  a  prayer.  When 
in  the  ever  memorable  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
He  taught  the  multitude  how  to  pray,  He  began 
with  this  same  sweet  name,  "Father."  "Our 
Father,  Who  art  in  Heaven,"  He  said,  teaching 
us  the  great  central  truth,  the  great  consoling 
truth  around  which  all  His  other  doctrine  re- 
volves, that  God  is  our  Father,  not  my  Father, 
nor  your  Father,  but  the  Father  of  us  all,  char- 
acterized by  the  love  and  tenderness  and  care 
which  constitute  what  we  call  Providence,  and 
demanding  from  us  a  responsive  obedience  to 
His  law  and  a  filial  devotion  to  His  interests. 
When  we  learn  this  exalted  lesson  and  love 
God  as  our  Father,  there  will  be  little  difficulty 
in  loving  our  fellow  men  as  brothers,  and  until 
we  learn  the  lesson,  our  boasts  of  brotherhood 
will  remain  empty  and  void  of  enduring  results. 
All  very  well,  you  may  say,  but  it  is  so  hard 
to  recognize  the  Fatherhood  of  God,  amid  the 
trials  of  life  that  seem  to  grow  in  intensity  and 
bitterness,  with  the  years.  So  many  are  hun- 
gry to-day  or  in  fear  of  hunger  to-morrow! 
So  many  are  sick  and  weary  of  life's  heavy  bur- 
den, so  many  in  pain  and  in  the  ever  tightening 
clutches  of  sorrow  and  sadness !  Where  is  the 
Providence  of  Our  Father?  Look  once  more 
at  the  Cross.  Look  and  listen.  The  Victim 


44  Golgotha 


hanging  between  heaven  and  earth,  is  suffer- 
ing all  that  is  heart-rending  and  ghastly — diz- 
ziness, pain,  thirst,  hunger,  shame,  insults,  all 
intensified  by  His  extreme  delicate  sensitiveness 
of  Body  and  of  Soul.  His  veins  are  lacerated, 
His  flesh  crushed,  His  wounds  inflamed  by 
exposure,  His  Blood  gushing  forth  from  every 
part  of  His  mangled  Body.  From  the  sole  of 
His  foot  to  the  crown  of  His  head,  there  is 
no  soundness  in  Him.  So  intense,  so  over- 
whelming is  it  all,  that  in  the  language  of  the 
prophet,  He  may  well  cry  out:  "O  all  ye  that 
pass  by  attend  and  see,  if  there  be  any  sorrow 
like  unto  My  sorrow."  And  yet  from  that 
ocean  of  grief,  He  calls  upon  His  "Father!" 
He  wishes  to  teach  us,  in  our  lesser  griefs  and 
in  our  smaller  sorrows,  to  utter  the  same  tender 
word — "Our  Father."  It  is  chiefly  in  misfor- 
tune, when  evils  press  heavily  upon  us,  that  we 
must  look  from  earth  to  heaven  and  lean 
upon  the  Providence  of  God.  He  knows  what 
is  profitable  for  us  and  if  He  sends  sorrows, 
blessed  be  His  holy  Name! 

What  does  our  Lord  ask  of  His  Father?  Is 
it  a  repetition  of  His  plaintive  appeal  in  the 
Garden,  "Father,  if  it  be  possible,  let  this 
chalice  pass?"  Such  a  prayer  would,  to  our 
human  sense  of  the  proper,  seem  more  natural 


Golgotha  45 


now ;  but  such  is  not  the  burden  of  His  prayer. 
Is  it  an  appeal  full  of  holy  indignation?  Does 
He  call  upon  God  to  send  His  ministering  angels 
to  silence  once  and  for  all  the  hissing  serpents 
that  surround  Him?  That,  too,  seems  possible 
to  our  human  way  of  viewing  things.  He 
drove  the  merchants  before  Him  in  holy  anger, 
when  they  but  desecrated  the  Temple  made  by 
hands,  while,  at  present,  the  coarse,  vulgar 
multitude  is  defiling,  with  insults  and  shameful 
jests,  the  Temple  not  made  by  hands! 

No,  He  does  not  pray  for  their  destruction; 
He  utters  a  prayer  such  as  the  world  had  never 
heard,  a  Divine  prayer,  sufficient  of  itself  to 
make  one  exclaim:  Truly  this  is  the  Son  of 
God.  "Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not 
what  they  do!"  Send  forth  a  legion  of  angels, 
not  with  swords  to  destroy,  but  with  the  gentle 
whisperings  of  grace,  to  soften  their  stony 
hearts  and  to  purify  their  sordid  souls!  They 
have  outraged  Me,  they  have  dug  My  hands 
and  feet,  they  have  passed  by  and  clapped  their 
hands  and  wagged  their  heads,  and  opened  their 
vile  mouths  against  Me;  nevertheless,  O  My 
Father,  pardon  them,  blot  out  their  iniquity, 
remember  not  their  sins;  Father,  forgive  them, 
for  they  know  not  what  they  do! 

Truly    is    the   mercy    of    our    blessed    Lord 


46  Golgotha 


boundless!  All  His  other  deeds  of  mercy,  all 
His  parables  of  mercy,  infinite  though  they  be 
in  tenderness,  seem  to  pale  before  this  prayer 
for  mercy.  He  pardoned  Magdalene,  but  it 
was  because  "she  loved  much";  He  pardoned 
the  woman  taken  in  adultery,  but  it  was  after 
the  sin  had  been  committed  and  with  the  pro- 
vision that  "she  sin  no  more."  He  told  the 
story  of  the  Prodigal's  Father  that  mirrored 
the  mercy  of  our  Heavenly  Father,  but  the 
tenderness  was  shown  only  after  the  wayward 
boy  returned  from  his  riotous  living.  The  near- 
est approach,  speaking  humanly,  to  this  prayer 
on  the  Cross  is  the  parable  of  the  shepherd, 
who  goes  in  search  of  the  wandering  sheep  and 
endures  untold  hardships  to  win  its  confidence 
and  bring  it  back  to  the  fold;  but,  it  must  be 
noted,  the  parable  does  not  even  suggest  the 
extreme  character  of  the  sufferings  undergone 
by  the  Good  Shepherd.  Over  and  above  all 
that  is  sublime  in  the  teachings  of  Christ  and 
in  His  actual  life,  there  is,  in  the  present  in- 
stance, that  incomprehensible  degree  of  mercy 
which  prompts  Him  to  beg  for  forgiveness, 
even  while  the  blinded  rabble  is  reveling  in 
their  sin,  even  while  they  are  heaping  insults 
upon  Him,  and  destruction  upon  themselves. 
This  prayer  forms  the  climax  of  Christ's  love 


Golgotha  47 


for  us.  For  us?  Yes,  He  saw  through  tear- 
dimmed,  blood-clotted  eyes  beyond  the  mob  that 
surrounded  the  Cross;  He  saw  that  other  mob, 
which  we  call  the  human  race;  He  saw  every- 
one of  us,  with  all  our  sins  and  vicious  habits 
and  for  all  He  prayed:  Father,  Forgive  them! 
Extend  an  universal  pardon,  draw  them  back 
from  the  precipice  and  from  the  jaws  of  hell, 
back  from  misery  to  happiness,  back  from  utter 
destruction  to  eternal  glory. 

Forgive  them,  Father,  for  they  know  not 
what  they  do.  If  they  know  not  what  they 
do,  there  is,  it  may  occur  to  some,  no  need  of 
forgiveness,  for  ignorance  destroys  guilt.  It 
is  true,  but  it  must  also  be  remembered  that 
there  are  two  kinds  of  ignorance,  one  which 
is  unavoidable  and  another  which,  with  a  little 
care,  may  be  removed.  The  former  excuses 
from  sin,  but  not  the  latter.  Ignorance  that  is 
courted,  ignorance  that  is  affected  is,  in  itself, 
a  sin,  and  when  it  leads,  as  it  did,  in  the  case 
of  the  Jews,  to  some  terrible  crime,  it  is  a 
terrible  sin.  They  knew  not  what  they  were 
doing,  is  quite  true,  because  our  Lord  has  thus 
spoken;  but  they  should  have  known,  they  had 
ample  opportunity  to  know  that  He  was  Christ, 
the  Son  of  the  living  God,  and  that  they  had 
crucified  their  Savior. 


48  Golgotha 


In  another  sense  it  may  be  said  with  truth 
of  every  sinner,  who  rebels  against  Almighty 
God,  that  he  knows  not  what  he  does,  he  knows 
not  the  malice  of  sin,  he  knows  not  that  sin 
blows  out  the  light  in  his  soul,  he  knows  not 
how  hateful  sin  is  in  the  eyes  of  God,  and  how 
the  justice  of  God  will  punish  it  in  the  next 
life  unless  it  be  forgiven  in  this.  But  the 
sinner  ought  to  know,  ample  opportunity  is 
given  to  learn  the  nature  and  the  malice  and 
the  punishment  of  sin  and  it  is  sinful  not  to 
profit  by  the  opportunities  offered. 

According  to  some  commentators  it  is  this 
very  sin  of  guilty  ignorance  for  which  the 
dying  Savior  prays  for  pardon.  Father,  forgive 
their  criminal  blindness.  Take  away  from  them 
the  curse  of  guilty  ignorance,  otherwise  they 
will  never  know  what  they  do,  and  they  will 
go  on  sinning  against  Thee,  their  Father,  and 
against  Me,  their  Redeemer,  and  all  the  foul- 
ness and  horror  of  sin  will  be  hidden  from 
them.  It  was  to  this  terrible  curse  of  blind- 
ness, this  withdrawal  of  the  light  of  grace,  with 
which  the  obdurate  sinner  is  sometimes  pun- 
ished, that  our  Savior  referred  when,  on  an- 
other occasion,  He  exclaimed  with  tears  in  His 
eyes.  "O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  if  thou  didst 


Golgotha  49 


but  know  the  time  of  thy  visitation,  but  now  it 
is  hidden  from  thee!" 

In  the  world  to-day  there  are  many  who  do 
not  know  the  things  of  God,  they  do  not  rec- 
ognize the  Church  of  Christ,  the  need  of  the 
Sacraments  that  have  power  to  weaken  their 
sinful  inclinations  and  that  give  strength 
against  every  temptation.  They  do  not  know 
the  necessity  incumbent  on  all  men  of  studying 
the  life  and  the  doctrine  of  Jesus  Christ  and 
studying  it  under  the  guidance  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  Who  remains,  not  with  the  individual 
but  with  the  Church  of  Christ's  institution  and 
shall  remain  with  her  forever.  They  know  or 
imagine  they  know  many  things,  but  the  one 
thing  necessary  they  do  not  know.  Forgive 
them,  Father,  forgive  them  this  criminal  igno- 
rance. 

Forgive  them !  Our  Lord  has  on  many  occa- 
sions taught  us  to  forgive  our  neighbor,  to 
forgive  even  our  enemies.  The  lord  of  the 
parable,  being  angry,  delivered  the  unforgiving 
servant  to  the  torturers  until  he  paid  all  his 
debts.  "So  also,"  adds  the  Savior,  "shall  My 
Heavenly  Father  do  to  you,  if  you  forgive  not 
every  one  his  brother  from  your  hearts." 

Forgiveness  of  injuries!  It  is  the  perfection 
of  Christian  charity.  Others  have  taught  the 


50  Golgotha 


sublimity  of  love,  they  have  even  taught  the  de- 
sirability of  a  certain  stoicism  in  the  presence 
of  insults ;  but  no  man  ever  reached  the  heights 
of  Christian  forgiveness.  The  note  sounded  by 
Christ  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount, — "Love 
your  enemies,  do  good  to  them  that  persecute 
you," — is  unique  in  its  solemn  grandeur  and 
its  unapproachable  magnificence.  It  is  this  that 
men,  of  every  creed  or  of  no  creed,  admire  so 
much  in  the  teachings  of  Christianity. 

But  how  sadly  deficient  is  the  world  to-day 
in  the  practice  of  such  love!  "Who  would 
think,"  asks  the  Sovereign  Pontiff,  Benedict 
XV,  as  he  reviews  the  painful  spectacle  pre- 
sented by  Europe  to-day — the  ruin  and  the  car- 
nage, the  deserted  fields,  the  languishing  in- 
dustries, the  neglected  arts,  the  orphans,  the 
widows,  and  the  sorrowing  families, — "who 
would  think  that  the  combatants  are  brothers, 
the  children  of  one  Father  in  Heaven?" 

Something  must  be  wanting!  Everybody  ad- 
mires the  dignity  of  love  and  the  heroism  of 
forgiveness,  but  nobody  seems  to  care  to  prac- 
tice it.  Something  is  indeed  wanting.  Chris- 
tian love,  with  all  the  sacrifices  demanded  and 
all  the  consequent  stifling  of  self-interest,  is 
beyond  the  reach  of  human  nature,  unless  that 
nature  is  elevated  above  itself  by  supernatural 


Golgotha 


principles,  and  impelled  by  supernatural  mo- 
tives to  do,  what  of  itself,  it  cannot  do.  This 
then  is  what  is  wanting,  supernatural  assistance ! 
Humanity  has  endeavored  to  get  along  without 
God,  and  the  result  is  plainly  written  in  char- 
acters of  blood  upon  the  now  crumbling  arches 
of  human  society. 

It  is  all  very  well  to  lament,  as  we  are  la- 
menting to-day,  the  destruction  of  mediaeval 
art,  which,  as  we  say,  is  the  inheritance  of  the 
race,  it  is  all  very  well  to  speak  strongly 
against  the  desecration  of  Temples,  which  have 
come  down  unscathed  through  the  centuries,  it 
is  easy  to  condemn  the  spirit  of  the  age  that 
has  transformed  the  greatest  inventions  of  hu- 
man intelligence  into  instruments  of  devasta- 
tion and  of  human  butchery;  but  sad  as  the 
thought  is,  heart-rending  as  are  the  details  of 
the  universal  slaughter,  is  it  not  true  that  the 
human  race  having  sown  the  whirlwind  is  but 
reaping  the  storm!  Yes,  there  are  Temples 
desecrated  by  the  engines  of  war,  but  in  time 
of  peace  they  were  desecrated  by  impious  de- 
crees that  banished  the  minister  of  •  God  and 
destroyed  freedom  of  worship!  The  accumu- 
lated art  of  the  centuries  has  not  escaped  from 
the  destroying  shrapnel,  but  in  time  of  peace, 
that  same  art  was  despised  and  the  religion 


Golgotha 


that  inspired  the  artists  was  kept  in  bondage. 
The  inventions  of  human  intelligence,  the  great- 
est boasts  of  science,  are  used  for  the  purposes 
of  destruction,  but  had  not  many  boasted,  in 
time  of  peace,  that  science  had  given  a  death- 
blow to  religion?  It  was  a  boast  unfounded 
on  fact,  but  it  deceived  many  and  led  others 
away  from  God,  and  they  who  depart  from  God 
shall  utterly  perish.  Irreligion  knows  no 
weapon  but  the  sword,  and  builds  its  hopes  on 
dynamite. 

It  is  easy  for  man  to  admire  the  exalted  love 
taught  by  Christ  throughout  His  life  and  ex- 
emplified, with  such  telling  effect,  in  His  prayer 
upon  the  Cross,  it  is  easy  to  desire  to  see  such 
love  spread  among  men;  but  it  is  all  useless 
unless  the  world  returns  to  God  through  Christ 
and  to  Christ  through  His  Divinely  authorized 
Church!  The  world  may  return  to  God  when 
it  has  learned,  from  the  present  conflict,  the 
costly  lesson  of  man's  helplessness  apart  from 
supernatural  principles;  but  in  the  meantime 
there  is  an  estrangement,  and,  as  a  consequence, 
there  are  enmities  and  hatreds  not  only  among 
the  warring  nations,  but  even  among  religious 
sects.  There  are  periodicals  published  for  the 
sole  purpose  of  inflaming  popular  hatred  and 
of  sowing  the  seed  of  enmities.  There  are  so- 


Golgotha  53 


cieties  formed,  even  in  our  beloved  country, 
whose  avowed  purpose  is  to  hurl  against  the 
Church  of  Christ  the  same  charges  that  were 
hurled  against  Christ  Himself.  What  can  we 
do  to  counteract  the  evil?  What  can  we  do  to 
destroy  the  growing  hatred  at  home  as  well  as 
abroad?  We  can  do  nothing  better,  nothing 
more  capable  of  re-awakening  the  spirit  of  love 
than  to  unite  our  voices  with  the  prayer  of 
Jesus  Christ  Crucified:  "Father,  forgive  them, 
for  they  know  not  what  they  do!" 


THE   DIVINE   HEALER 

We  are  not  altogether  certain  of  the  effect 
produced  on  the  multitude  by  the  Savior's 
prayer  for  mercy;  but  when  we  recall  the  words 
of  our  Blessed  Lord, — "If  I  am  lifted  up  from 
the  earth,  I  will  draw  all  things  to  Myself," — 
we  may,  with  probability,  conclude  that  there 
were  some  beginnings  of  repentance,  and  some 
manifestations  of  a  change  in  sentiment.  A 
modern  scoffer, — whose  guilt  was  the  outgrowth 
of  deliberate  apostacy  and  therefore  deeper 
than  that  of  the  Jews,  which  was  the  result  of 
blind  passion  and  excitement, — has  not  hesi- 
tated to  say:  "If  the  death  of  Socrates  was 
that  of  a  sage,  the  death  of  Jesus  Christ  was 
that  of  a  God !"  Can  we  not,  therefore,  suppose 
that  when  His  sweet  plaintive  voice  was  heard, 
there  was  a  reaction  ?  The  passions  of  a  mob 
acquire  a  momentum  which  nothing  short  of  a 
shock  can  withstand.  If  a  sight  of  the  mangled 
body  on  the  Cross  was  powerless  to  change 
their  hatred  into  pity,  surely  that  Divine  prayer 
must  have  had  some  effect,  it  must  have  served 
as  a  temporary  shock. 

Apart  from  conjecture  we  are  certain  that 
the  Pharisees  and  their  minions  had  to  resort  to 


Golgotha  55 


a  new  device  to  keep  at  a  white  heat  the  hatred 
of  the  populace  and  to  prevent  them  from  cry- 
ing out  in  favor  of  their  Crucified  King.  The 
diabolical  nature  of  the  new  device  seems  to 
point  to  a  turn  in  the  tide  of  sentiment.  Some 
there  were  no  doubt  who  recalled  the  deeds  of 
mercy  wrought  by  the  Savior  during  His  life- 
time. Had  He  not  gone  about  doing  good? 
At  His  word  the  blind  received  the  gift  of 
sight,  the  deaf  their  hearing  and  the  dumb  the 
power  of  speech.  At  His  command  the  lan- 
guid blood  received  new  life  and  flowed  with 
invigorating  freshness  through  the  veins.  Nay 
more,  He  summoned  the  dead  back  from  the 
tombs  and  manifested  a  power  even  over  the 
inanimate  winds  and  waves.  Goodness  and 
power,  goodness  infinite  and  power  Divine  ac- 
companied Him  through  life. 

That  such  thoughts  were  in  reality  circulat- 
ing through  the  now  exhausted  crowd,  through 
the  multitude  drunk  with  blood,  seems  the  only 
explanation  of  the  new  attack  directed  against 
the  Savior,  and  adopted  by  all  who  stood  about 
the  Cross. 

"He  saved  others;  Himself  He  cannot  save!" 
suggested  the  priests  as  they  moved  about 
among  the  bystanders  or  looking  towards  the 
Cross  wagged  their  heads  in  scornful  triumph. 


56  Golgotha 


"If  He  be  the  King  of  Israel,  let  Him  come 
down  from  the  Cross!"  the  multitude  shouted, 
and  again  the  vast  sea  of  humanity  roared  and 
rolled  on  the  hillside. 

"Save  Thyself!"  suggested  the  Roman  sol- 
diers, perhaps  even  with  a  half  hope  that  He 
would  come  down  from  the  Cross  and  cause 
consternation  amongst  the  criminal  mob. 

"Yah,  Thou  that  destroyest  the  Temple  and 
in  three  days  rebuildest  it,  save  Thyself!"  was 
repeated  by  those  that  passed  by  the  way  and, 
as  St,  Mark  tells  us,  they  that  were  crucified 
with  Him  reviled  Him. 

"Save  Thyself  and  us!"  they  said,  tauntingly, 
though,  in  the  heart  of  the  Good  Thief,  that 
very  taunt  must  have  assumed  the  nature  of  a 
prayer,  at  least,  in  the  making. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  effect  produced 
on  the  multitude  by  this  new  reproach.  He  was 
challenged  to  declare  Himself  and  He  remained 
in  agony  on  the  Cross.  How  weak  the  boasted 
Son  of  God  really  was?  Why  did  not  God 
deliver  Him?  Where  was  His  vaunted  power 
now?  Such  thoughts  ran  riot  through  the  as- 
sembled scoffers  and  they  had  sufficient  proof 
in  His  weakness  that  He  was  but  an  imposter 
and  a  false  prophet,  and  the  shouts  of  "Save 
Thyself,  if  Thou  be  the  Son  of  God!"  grew 


Golgotha  57 


in  volume,  even  as  the  malice  of  their  infidelity 
gjew  in  intensity. 

There  are  some  very  important  lessons  in 
this  incident.  We  might  have  imagined  that 
our  Lord  would  be  spared  this  new  insult.  The 
memory  of  His  works  of  love,  it  might  be  sup- 
posed, could  inspire  thoughts  of  pity  only.  "If 
I  have  done  evil,"  every  single  wound  of  the 
Savior  seems  to  cry  out,  "give  testimony  of  the 
evil,  but  if  I  have  done  well,  if  I  have  saved 
others,  saved  them  from  sickness  and  death 
and  from  the  miseries  that  go  to  make  up  life, 
why  do  you  insult  Me  for  it?"  Such,  in  human 
calculation,  should  have  been  the  silent,  mighty 
eloquence  of  the  wounded  Body,  hanging  on  the 
Cross;  but  the  mob,  lost  in  the  labyrinth  of 
maddening  passions,  was  impervious  to  any  such 
appeal.  What  impresses  them  is  the  novelty  of 
the  insult  and  so  they  repeat  their  "Vah!"  and 
wag  their  heads  in  derision. 

The  blasphemous  challenge  is  still  in  vogue 
amongst  certain  classes  of  men.  If  God  wishes 
us  to  believe,  why  does  He  not  manifest  Him- 
self in  some  miraculous  way?  Why  does  He 
not  perform  some  stupendous  miracle  so  that 
doubt  will  be  impossible?  To  many  the  ques- 
tion seems  reasonable,  and  even  new,  but  it  is 
both  blasphemous  and  old.  It  was  asked  on 


58  Golgotha 


Golgotha,  as  we  have  just  seen,  it  was  asked  on 
a  previous  occasion  by  the  Pharisees  who 
wanted  "a  sign  in  the  heavens,"  in  proof  of  the 
claims  of  Jesus  Christ.  It  was  asked  by  the 
rich  man  who  died  and  was  buried  in  hell.  He 
thought  that  if  some  one  would  return  from 
the  dead  to  warn  his  brothers,  it  would  help 
very  much  to  induce  them  to  change  their  sinful 
manner  of  life  and  to  avoid  a  fate  similar  to 
his  own. 

Why  does  not  God  satisfy  these  demands? 
God,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind,  is  all  holy,  and 
these  demands,  made  in  spite  of  all  that  He  has 
done  for  us,  are  the  blasphemous  utterances  of 
blind  incredulity.  God  cannot  approve  of  what 
is  wrong  and  incredulity  is  terribly  wrong. 
"O  My  people,  what  could  I  have  done  for  you 
and  have  not  done?"  He  asks  of  all  the  gen- 
erations of  men.  To  the  scoffers  who  surround 
the  Cross  he  pleads,  with  silent  eloquence,  "By 
your  own  admission,  I  have  saved  others,  in 
your  presence  I  called  Lazarus  back  from  the 
tomb,  I  restored  sight  to  the  blind  and  hearing 
to  the  deaf  and  have  given  ample  proof  of  My 
Divinity,  throughout  My  sojourn  on  earth,  as 
I  am  giving  proof  now  in  My  death !  What 
more  could  I  have  done  and  have  not  done?" 
To  us  and  to  all  the  world,  there  comes  a 


Golgotha  59 


similar  appeal.  Christ  manifested  His  Divinity 
during  life  by  countless  miracles,  His  death 
upon  the  Cross  was  a  proof  of  His  Divinity, 
His  resurrection  from  the  dead,  the  accurate 
fulfillment  of  prophecies  that  had  been  spoken 
about  Him,  of  prophecies  that  had  been  uttered 
by  Him,  all  unite  to  drive  home  the  truth  of 
His  Divine  character  with  irresistible  force. 
Add  to  these  Scriptural  proofs,  the  testimony 
of  unnumbered  martyrs  of  all  ages  and  of  all 
classes  of  people,  the  zeal  of  an  ever-increasing 
army  of  apostles,  the  spread  of  His  church  in 
spite  of  unimaginable  odds,  and  her  triumph 
over  enemies  from  without  and  from  within, 
and  you  will  have  no  difficulty  in  subscribing  to 
the  beautiful  sentiments  of  Chateaubriand:  "He 
Who  could  cause  a  Cross  to  be  adored  must 
have  been,  we  may  swear  to  it,  nothing  less 
than  God."  What  more  could  He  have  done 
for  us  and  has  not  done? 

Infidelity  or  the  refusal  to  believe  in  the  Di- 
vinity of  Jesus  Christ  and  to  practice  all  that 
such  belief  implies,  cannot  be  explained  by  the 
absence  of  sufficient  evidence,  "Let  Him  come 
down  from  the  Cross  and  we  shall  believe!"  is 
the  expression  of  obdurate  and  obstinate  scep- 
ticism and  has  its  origin  in  something  deeper 
than  the  so-called  difficulties  of  the  intellect. 


60  Golgotha 


Pull  up  a  religious  doubt  and  you  will  find  a  sin 
at  its  root.  Study  the  cause  of  unbelief  and 
you  will  find  that  it  is  monstrous  pride  and 
wilful  blindness.  "What  more  could  I  have 
done  and  have  not  done?"  is  written  large  upon 
the  walls  of  the  world. 

"He  saved  others,  Himself  He  cannot  save!" 
There  is  another  lesson  of  great  importance  in 
this  blasphemous  scoff.  The  assembled  populace 
publicly  acknowledge  His  power.  They  pro- 
claim to  the  world  that  Christ  was  a  Healer; 
but  observe  how  their  mad  cry  manifests  a 
carnal  selfish  mind  which  failed  to  see  the  rea- 
son which  prompted  Christ  in  the  performance 
of  miraculous  cures.  Repeatedly  He  had  told 
them  that  He  cured  the  body  to  prove  that  He 
was  sent  on  earth  to  cure  souls.  "In  order  that 
you  see,"  He  said,  "that  the  Son  of  Man  hath 
power  to  forgive  sins  I  say  to  this  man  (sick 
of  the  palsy),  arise  and  walk."  Repeatedly,  He 
had  taught  that  solicitude  for  the  body  was 
indicative  of  a  lack  of  confidence  in  the  Provi- 
dence of  God,  and  when  He  left  to  them  and 
through  them  to  us,  a  method  of  prayer,  He 
taught  us  to  ask  for  spiritual  favors  chiefly. 
Constantly  and  with  unmistakable  directness  He 
had  taught  the  priceless  value  of  the  soul  and 
the  comparative  insignificance  of  the  body. 


Golgotha  6 1 


"Fear  ye  not  them  that  kill  the  body,  and  are 
not  able  to  kill  the  soul,  but  fear  ye  Him  who 
can  destroy  both  soul  and  body  in  hell." 

All  this  deeper  meaning  of  spiritual  values 
was  hidden  from  the  blind  carnality  of  the  Jews. 
They  proclaimed  his  healing  power  but  only  to 
scoff  at  its  limitations.  If  Christ  were  a  Healer 
of  physical  ills  and  nothing  but  a  Healer,  if 
He  were,  ever  primarily,  a  Healer  in  the  physi- 
cal sense,  there  was  real  pointedness  in  their 
challenge.  If  He  had  come  to  establish  a 
"sickless  humanity,"  He  should  have  begun  with 
Himself.  And  in  the  same  manner,  if  Christ 
were  a  Healer  of  the  body,  we,  who  from  the 
vantage  point  of  the  twentieth  century  look 
back  over  the  records  of  human  history,  must 
admit  that  He  was  an  absolute  and  terrible 
failure.  Every  individual  born  into  the  world 
has  invariably  and  unmistakably  gone  out  of 
it  through  the  portals  of  sickness,  or  its  equiv- 
alent, and  death!  Where  is  the  work  of  the 
Divine  Healer?  Let  those  answer  who  blas- 
phemously and  without  reason  still  maintain 
that  Christ  came  on  earth  to  do  away  with 
sickness  and  physical  pain!  Let  those  answer 
who  have  founded  the  new  religion,  the  chief 
promise  of  which  is  the  cure  of  sickness  and 
the  conquest  of  pain!  But  before  they  answer, 


62  Golgotha 


let  them,  in  the  sacred  name  of  Jesus  Crucified, 
study  the  spirit  which  gives  rise  to  that  fearful 
insult.  "He  saved  others;  Himself  He  cannot 
save!"  "Christian  Science,"  so-called,  was  born 
on  Golgotha  and, — I  speak  in  the  spirit  of  love, 
— its  first  believers  stood  around  the  Cross  and 
heaped  ignominy  on  the  Healer  of  souls! 

The  Healer  of  souls!  Let  us  see.  Christ 
answers  the  challenge  by  showing  in  what  sense 
He  has  come  to  save.  One  of  the  thieves 
moved  by  Divine  Grace  offers  an  excellent  op- 
portunity for  the  great  lesson.  A  poor  sinner, 
fortunate  enough  to  acknowledge  his  sinfulness, 
utters  the  first  kind  word  yet  heard  on  Gol- 
gotha. It  is  a  note  of  sweet  music  amid  uni- 
versal discord,  it  is  a  prayer  amid  the  darkest 
blasphemies  that  ever  issued  from  the  souls  of 
men,  it  is  an  act  of  love  amid  the  demoniacal 
flood  of  hatred  that  encompasses  the  loving 
Savior.  It  can  only  be  explained  by  the  quick- 
ening influence  of  Grace,  by  the  whispering  of 
an  Angel  to  a  heart  not  so  hardened  as  to 
refuse  responsive  gratitude.  "Lord,"  cries  the 
thief,  "remember  me,  when  Thou  comest  into 
Thy  Kingdom!" 

It  is  more,  much  more  than  a  mere  plea  for 
remembrance.  It  is  a  profession  of  faith  in  the 
other-world  character  of  Christ's  Kingdom.  It 


Golgotha  63 


is  a  public  act  of  submission  to  the  teaching  of 
Christ  so  strikingly  emphasized  on  the  Cross 
that  His  Kingdom  is  not  of  this  world.  It  is 
an  act  of  hope;  the  prayer  breathes  unlimited 
confidence  in  the  goodness  of  Christ  even  to- 
wards a  poor  sinner.  It  is  an  act  of  love,  all 
the  more  admirable  in  the  hate-laden  atmos- 
phere of  Golgotha.  "Lord,  remember  me,  when 
thou  comest  into  Thy  Kingdom/' 

It  is  not  an  elaborate  prayer,  neither  was 
the  prayer  of  the  poor  Publican  who  did  not 
so  much  as  raise  his  eyes  to  heaven,  but  struck 
his  breast  saying:  "O  God,  have  mercy  on  me 
a  sinner."  But  though  simple  and  brief  it  is  in 
this  case  as  it  was  in  that,  powerfully  efficacious. 
"This  day  thou  shalt  be  with  Me  in  paradise!" 
is  the  answer  of  Jesus  Crucified.  What  does 
this  answer  mean?  It  means  that  all  the  sins  of 
a  lifetime,  all  the  accumulated  disorders  of  a 
career  that  deserved  the  death-penalty,  are  in 
a  moment  blotted  out,  that  the  soul  is  washed 
white  and  clothed  with  a  robe  of  innocence  so 
pure,  so  stainless,  so  free  from  even  the  dust 
of  sin  that  this  very  day  the  soul  of  the  penitent 
thief  will  enter  Paradise,  the  eternal  mansion 
of  God  and  be  associated  with  the  angels  and 
saints  forever.  Nothing  defiled  can  enter  Para- 
dise and  hence  the  soul  of  the  penitent  of  Gol- 


64  Golgotha 


gotha  has  in  a  moment  been  freed  from  all 
defilement. 

This  boundlessness  of  mercy  need  not  sur- 
prise us.  "In  whatsoever  day,"  says  God,  "the 
sinner  turns  to  Me,  I  shall  turn  to  him  and  all 
his  sins  will  be  forgotten!"  All  his  sins,  even 
though  they  are  as  numerous  as  the  sands  on 
the  sea  shore?  Yes,  all!,  for  God's  mercy  is 
infinite  and  infinite  mercy  knows  no  bounds. 
The  one  thing  necessary,  is  that  the  sinner  for- 
sake the  hard  task-master  and  the  swine  and 
return  to  his  Father! 

Now  we  understand  what  kind  of  a  Savior 
Jesus  Christ  really  is, — He  is  a  Savior  of  souls; 
and  we  understand  too,  why  He  did  not  come 
down  from  the  Cross.  He  did  not  come  down 
because  it  is  by  His  Sacred  Blood  that  our 
souls  are  restored  to  their  primitive  whiteness 
and  He  wished  to  shed  the  last  drop  of  His 
Blood  so  that  there  would  be  for  us  and  for  all 
the  world  what,  in  Holy  Scripture,  is  called 
"plentiful  Redemption."  What  He  did  for  the 
body  was  but  transitory,  all  who  profited  by 
His  miraculous  cures  grew  sick  again  and  died. 
He  made  use  of  His  power  to  win  our  faith  in 
Him  in  order  to  tell  us  how  much  our  immortal 
souls  were  valued  in  Heaven.  Nothing  else 
counts  with  God,  neither  health,  nor  wealth, 


Golgotha  65 


nor  fame,  nor  influence  among  men;  nothing 
else  ought  to  count  with  us.  "What  does  it 
profit  a  man  to  gain  the  whole  world  if  He 
suffer  the  loss  of  His  soul?"  is  the  substance 
of  Christ's  teaching  in  this  matter  and  in  keep- 
ing with  this  teaching  His  Divinely  authorized 
Church  instructs  the  sick  and  those  in  danger 
of  death  to  say  with  holy  resignation : 

"O  my  God  I  willingly  accept  and  bear  all 
pains  and  sufferings  and  even  death  itself  with 
resignation  to  Thy  Divine  will  and  in  punish- 
ment for  my  sins.  O  my  Jesus,  I  unite  my- 
sufferings  to  Thy  most  bitter  torments.  O 
Lord,  here  burn,  here  cut;  but  spare  me  for 
eternity !" 

It  was  this  proper  appreciation  of  the  rela- 
tive value  of  soul  and  body  that  inspired  those 
saints  of  God  who  looked  upon  a  day  as  lost 
when  it  was  unaccompanied  by  pain,  or  some 
equivalent  misfortune.  They  wished,  in  all  sin- 
cerity, to  "take  up  their  cross  daily"  and  fol- 
low Jesus.  Return  again  to  the  scene  on  Gol- 
gotha and  listen  to  the  loving  Savior's  words: 
"This  day,  thou  shalt  be  with  Me  in  Paradise." 
Our  Lord  intends  to  say  these  same  words  to 
us,  yes  He  really  intends  to  address  us  as  He 
addressed  the  penitent.  So  serious  is  His  in- 
tention, so  earnest  His  desire,  that  in  order  to 


66  Golgotha 


be  sure  of  thus  addressing  us  He  died  upon 
the  Cross.  Nothing  on  earth  can  deprive  us  of 
that  happiness,  nobody  on  earth  can  stand  be- 
tween us  and  Paradise,  except  unrepented  sin 
and  ourselves !  But  there  is  one  thing  on  earth 
that  can  draw  us  nearer  to  Christ;  it  is  suffer- 
ing, borne  with  resignation  to  the  holy  will  of 
God. 

With  Christ  in  Paradise!  What  does  it  mean? 
We  cannot  say  all  that  it  means,  we  cannot 
even  in  fancy  picture  what  God  has  prepared 
for  those  who  serve  Him;  but  we  know  that 
Paradise  is  the  accumulation  of  all  good  things, 
and  the  termination  of  all  evil  things.  What- 
ever the  human  soul  is  capable  of  enjoying, 
whatever  its  angelic  powers  of  intellect  and  will 
and  memory  are  capable  of  attaining  will  be 
attained  in  ever  increasing  fullness  forever!  In 
Paradise  we  shall  revel  in  torrents  of  delight 
for  all  eternity.  In  Paradise  we  shall  know 
our  own,  and  we  shall  know  all  the  saints  and 
servants  of  God  of  all  nations  and  of  all  time, 
we  shall  know  God  in  all  His  grandeur  and 
incomprehensible  magnificence. 

Do  not  be  deceived  by  those  who  speak  of  a 
paradise  on  earth,  a  man-made  paradise.  It  is 
the  dream  of  madmen  and  a  fearfully  empty 
dream.  Paradise  on  earth !  Look  around  you 


Golgotha  67 


and  you  will  find  that  when  it  is  built  by  man 
on  man-made  foundations,  it  inevitably  crumbles 
into  dust  with  a  mighty  crash  and  with  un- 
speakable ruin.  No,  we  have  not  here  a  lasting 
city,  but  look  for  one  that  is  to  come.  We 
trust  no  dreams  of  selfish  humanity  but  look  to 
Him  Who  can  say,  and  Who,  if  we  remain 
faithful  to  Him,  will  say  to  each  of  us,  when 
life  fails,  as  fail  it  must,  what  He  said  to  Dismas 
on  Golgotha:  "This  day,  thou  shalt  be  with  me 
in  Paradise." 


MARY,  HIS   MOTHER 

"Now  there  stood  by  the  Cross  of  Jesus, 
Mary,  His  Mother."  These  words  of  the  be- 
loved Disciple  need  not  turn  our  thoughts  away 
from  the  central  Figure  of  the  great  tragedy. 
Familiar  as  they  are  to  us,  and  full  of  power 
to  arouse  our  sympathy  for  the  Virgin  Mother, 
whose  presence  beneath  the  Cross  was  a  martyr- 
dom of  untold  bitterness,  they  express,  at  the 
same  time,  another  and  an  unintelligibly  deep 
sorrow  and  mental  anguish  of  Him  Who  was 
on  the  Cross. 

To  suffer  in  the  presence  of  those  we  love,  to 
suffer  and  to  see  the  anguish  caused  in  others 
by  our  pain  is,  for  the  noble-minded,  worse 
than  the  pain  itself.  Such  at  least  was  the  case 
with  our  Blessed  Lord.  He  saw  beneath  the 
Cross  her  whom  he  loved  most  tenderly,  He 
knew  what  an  ocean  of  sorrow  encompassed  her 
loving  soul  and  He  felt  additional  agony  in  the 
thought.  But  you  may  say  it  was  but  proper 
that  she  should  be  there,  the  Mother  belongs 
at  the  death-bed  of  the  Son  and  her  presence 
seems  to  remove  one  terrible  feature  in  the  Pas- 
sion, the  utter  lonesomeness  of  our  dear  Lord. 
In  the  Garden,  when  perspiration  ran  red  with 


Golgotha  69 


drops  of  Blood,  He  was  alone.  He  was  con- 
ducted to  the  tribunal  of  the  High  Priest  alone. 
Alone  he  stood  before  Herod  and  on  the  porch 
of  Pilate.  He  was  alone  during  the  awful  scourg- 
ing and  the  crowning  with  thorns,  and  when  He 
struggled  up  to  the  top  of  Gologtha.  From  the 
Cross  He  looked  out  over  a  vast  sea  of  faces 
and  yet  He  was  alone,  except  for  the  presence 
of  Mary  and  John  and  the  few  faithful  women 
who  accompanied  them.  Except  for  this  small 
company  of  sympathizers,  He  could  say  even 
from  the  Cross  what,  without  any  exception,  He 
could  truly  say  in  the  Garden :  "I  looked  for 
one  to  grieve  with  Me  and  there  was  none,  for 
one  to  comfort  Me  and  I  found  none.  I  have 
trodden  Gethsemane  alone !" 

Yet  the  presence  of  His  Mother,  heroic  though 
it  is  and  comforting  to  Him  Who  loves  heroism 
and  sacrifice,  adds  to  His  other  sufferings  a 
most  bitter  pang.  It  may  even  be  said  without 
exaggeration  that  the  sight  of  His  sorrowing 
Mother  was  more  painful  to  the  Savior  than 
the  very  nails  that  pierced  His  sacred  hands 
and  feet.  This  is  explicitly  stated  in  the  revela- 
tion of  St.  Bridget.  "Whenever  my  Son  looked 
down  on  me  from  the  Cross,"  the  Blessed  Vir- 
gin is  reported  to  have  said  to  the  saint,  "He 
was  filled  with  such  bitter  grief  on  account  of 


70  Golgotha 


my  sorrow  that  all  the  pain,  caused  by  His 
wounds,  was,  as  it  were,  lulled  to  rest,  by  the 
thought  of  my  sorrow  which  He  was  witness- 
ing." 

The  presence  of  Mary  then  is  not  the  least 
of  Christ's  sufferings  and  it  must  be  studied  in 
all  the  sorrows  it  caused,  if  we  wish  to  get  a 
full  knowledge,  as  far  as  full  knowledge  is  pos- 
sible, of  what  the  Victim  of  Love  suffered  for 
us.  But  there  is  still  another  way  of  viewing 
the  scene.  It  is  the  Catholic  way,  and  consists 
in  turning  our  thoughts  directly  to  the  Sorrows 
of  Mary's  Immaculate  heart.  Most  of  the  great 
saints  have  written  eloquently  of  the  Sorrows 
of  the  Blessed  Mother  of  God.  They  have  drawn 
salutary  lessons  from  the  thought  that  she  whom 
Christ  loved,  as  only  a  Divine  Son  could  love, 
was  permitted  to  pass  through  this  bitter  agony. 
St.  Bernard  applies  to  her  the  words  of  Jere- 
mias,  "Great  as  the  sea  is  thy  contrition,"  and 
tells  us  that  on  Golgotha  there  were  "two  seas 
of  sorrow,  the  sea  of  sorrow  that  encompassed 
the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus,  which  was  full  to 
overflowing,  and  the  sea  of  sorrow  that  was 
caused  by  the  overflow  in  the  Immaculate  heart 
of  Mary."  "Each  wound  inflicted  on  our  Lord 
produces  in  her  uncounted  wounds,"  says  St. 
Gregory,  and  according  to  St.  Cyprian,  "All 


Golgotha  71 


that  marvelous  martyrdom  which  the  Passion 
effected  in  Jesus  Christ  was  reproduced  in  her 
by  her  active  watching." 

Thus  the  saints  in  viewing  the  Cross,  see 
always,  in  its  shadow,  the  Sorrowful  Mother 
and  seeing  her  there,  they  pause  to  give  ex- 
pression to  their  admiration  of  her  self-sacrific- 
ing fidelity  to  her  Divine  Son  and  to  study  the 
reasons  which  prompted  the  loving  Savior  to 
allow  His  Mother  to  stay  with  Him  in  His 
agony. 

Here  on  Golgotha  is  being  enacted  the  last 
sad  scene  in  the  world's  greatest  tragedy,  here 
is  the  Cross  around  which  the  history  of  the 
world  revolves.  All  previous  ages  looked  for- 
ward to  it,  and  from  it  comes  a  light  that  dis- 
pels the  darkness  of  all  subsequent  centuries. 
The  Cross  has  had  its  battles,  bloodless  and 
bloody,  and  has  come  forth  from  each  more 
glorious  than  before.  It  was  driven  from  the 
face  of  earth  by  the  Roman  Emperors,  while  its 
children  were,  day  by  day,  slaughtered  in  the 
amphitheaters  of  Rome,  and  yet  when  the  con- 
flict was  over  the  humble  followers  of  Jesus 
Crucified  came  forth  from  their  hiding  places 
and  ascending  the  Capitol  of  the  Eternal  City 
planted  there,  amid  songs  of  thanksgiving  and 
hymns  of  triumph,  their  Cross-emblazoned  stand- 


72  Golgotha 


ard  of  victory.  It  was  the  Cross  that  St.  Paul, 
the  Great  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  announced  with 
so  much  vehemence  and  eloquence  to  the  pagan 
world.  "I  preach  Jesus  Christ  Crucified"  was 
ever  on  his  lips  as  the  love  of  Christ  was  in  his 
Apostolic  heart.  When  in  the  course  of  time, 
the  Western  World  was  found,  the  first  act  of 
the  discoverer  was  to  erect  the  Cross  on  the 
Island  of  San  Salvador, — the  Island  of  our 
Savior, — while  here  in  California,  scattered  like 
mile  stones  along  the  Camino  Real  the  Mission 
Crosses  were  erected  by  the  devoted  followers 
of  St.  Francis  and  inaugurated  the  conquest  of 
the  West. 

Christ  is  admirable  in  His  power,  in  His  wis- 
dom, in  His  goodness ;  in  the  Cross  He  is 
adorable,  because  in  the  Cross  He  is  God.  In 
the  Cross  is  our  salvation,  in  the  Cross  is 
our  comfort,  in  the  Cross  is  forgiveness  of  sins, 
hope  of  Heaven,  motives  that  influence  love 
and  arguments  that  strengthen  faith ;  everything 
worth  while  is  in  the  Cross!  It  will  be  seen  in 
the  heavens  when  Christ  comes  to  judge  the 
living  and  the  dead,  and  blessed  will  be  the 
servants  of  the  Cross  on  that  tremendous  day. 

With  this  truth  so  plainly  Christian  before 
your  mind,  listen  again  to  what  St.  John  tells 
us:  "There  stood  by  the  Cross  of  Jesus,  Mary 


Golgotha  73 


His  Mother."  How  incomplete  is  the  picture  of 
Golgotha  without  that  Mother !  How  naked  our 
Christianity  without  that  Mother !  She  was  with 
Christ  in  Bethlehem,  when  the  Angels  sang  His 
birth,  she  was  with  Him  at  Cana  when  He  be- 
gan His  public  career,  she  brought  Him  into 
the  world,  she  introduced  Him  to  the  world, 
and  now,  that  He  is  about  to  leave  the  world, 
she  stands  beneath  His  Cross.  So  striking  is 
her  presence  with  Christ  in  every  great  epoch 
of  His  life  that  it  has  been  truly  said:  "Who 
shun  her  seek  Him  not." 

The  presence  of  Mary,  His  Mother,  beneath 
the  Cross  was  the  occasion  of  the  next  word 
spoken  by  the  dying  Savior.  "Woman,"  He 
said,  "behold  thy  son,"  and  turning  to  John 
who  also  remained  faithful  to  His  Master,  He 
said,  "Behold  thy  Mother."  Can  it  be  that 
the  Savior  Who  is  about  to  die  is  leaving  His 
Mother  to  the  care  of  His  beloved  Disciple? 
It  may  readily  be  supposed  that  He  had  some 
such  purpose  in  view.  He  was  to  be  separated 
from  Mary  by  death,  He  knew  what  anguish 
that  separation  would  cause,  He  knew  the  deso- 
lation and  the  grief  that  would  be  hers,  until, 
at  least,  the  triumphant  morning  of  Easter,  and 
loving  her  so  tenderly  it  is  altogether  in  keep- 
ing with  His  compassionate  nature  that  He 


74  Golgotha 


thinks  of  her  in  this  manner.  "Mother,"  He 
says  equivalently,  "be  not  desolate,  My  beloved 
Disciple  will  stay  with  thee  in  thy  sorrow,  he 
will  be  to  thee  a  substitute  for  Me,  He  will 
speak  words  of  comfort  and  of  hope.  Behold 
thy  Son!"  "John,  behold  thy  Mother,  be  de- 
voted to  her,  as  I  have  ever  been,  take  My 
place  as  far  as  it  is  possible,  not  only  until  I 
return  on  Easter  morning,  but  until  the  time 
arrives  for  her  to  enter  Heaven." 

Such  an  interpretation  is  not  only  possible ; 
it  is  both  literal  and  true  and  manifests  the  in- 
tensity of  Christ's  love  for  Mary,  but  according 
to  the  Fathers  of  the  Church,  there  is  another 
and  a  deeper  meaning  in  the  words.  The  dying 
Savior  is  thinking  of  us!  On  the  preceding 
night  when  He  had  gathered  His  Apostles 
around  Him  for  the  Last  Supper,  He  left  to 
the  world  a  legacy,  so  rich  and  of  such  inesti- 
mable grandeur  that  no  thought  of  ours  can 
fathom  its  soundless  depths.  He  Who,  during 
the  three  years  of  public  ministry,  had  given 
so  many  priceless  lessons  and  such  an  admir- 
able example  of  all  that  is  beautiful  and  noble 
in  human  conduct,  wished,  before  His  death, 
to  give  us  something  more,  and  He  gave  us 
Himself  under  the  appearance  of  bread  and 
wine,  Himself  whole  and  entire,  Body,  Soul 


Golgotha  75 


and  Divinity  to  be  the  sustaining  food  and  the 
life  of  our  souls. 

Surely  He  has  given  us  enough,  the  human 
heart  ought  to  be  satisfied,  but  His  Divine 
Heart  is  not  yet  satisfied.  From  the  Cross,  at 
the  very  hour  of  death,  as  if  to  impress  the 
importance  and  the  value  of  the  gift  upon  us, 
He  gives  to  us  the  treasure  He  loved  most  ten- 
derly, the  object  nearest  and  dearest  to  Him, 
He  gives  us  His  Mother! 

Such  is  the  meaning  attached  to  these  words 
by  the  Fathers  of  the  Church,  nor  is  it  without 
reason.  St.  John,  at  the  foot  of  the  Cross,  is 
the  representative  of  all  those  who  wish  to  profit 
by  the  death  of  the  Son  of  God.  "Behold  thy 
Mother,"  is  addressed  through  our  representa- 
tive to  us,  and  to  Mary,  the  holiest  of  the  holy, 
the  purest  of  the  pure,  have  been  assigned  by 
the  dying  Savior  the  office  and  the  duties  of 
our  Mother. 

Nor  is  it  only  a  metaphorical  way  of  speak- 
ing. Christ  does  not  merely  request  Mary  to 
act  as  if  she  were  our  Mother,  but  He  solemnly 
declares  that  she  is  our  Mother.  A  mother  is 
one  to  whom  we  owe  our  life.  We  have  a  three- 
fold life,  the  life  of  the  body,  the  life  of  the 
mind  and  the  life  of  the  soul.  There  need  be 
no  question  of  the  first  two  forms  of  life,  be- 


76  Golgotha 


cause  apart  from  the  soul,  they  are  altogether 
despicable.  We  share  the  life  of  the  body  with 
the  meanest  shrub  that  encumbers  the  ground 
and  with  the  vilest  reptile  that  lurks  in  slimy 
places ;  we  share  mental  life  or  intelligence  with 
the  demons  and  with  all  the  great  bad  men  of 
history, — every  criminal  is  intelligent,  many  are 
criminals  because  they  possess  an  unusually  high 
degree  of  intelligence. 

The  life  of  the  soul  is  not  to  be  despised,  it 
even  adds  keenness  to  intelligence,  and  grace 
and  beauty  to  mere  physical  life.  It  is  only 
another  word  for  Divine  Grace  and  do  we  not 
say  that  Mary  is  the  Mother  of  Divine  Grace 
and  that  from  her  we  received  the  Life  of  our 
souls?  Christ  is  the  source  and  founder  of 
Grace  and  Mary  is  the  Mother  of  Christ.  This 
is  what  John  tells  us  in  the  words  which  we 
are  studying:  There  stood  by  the  Cross  of 
Jesus  Mary,  His  Mother! 

Oh,  no!  it  does  not  in  any  way  diminish  our 
appreciation  of  His  Divinity  and  our  gratitude 
for  all  that  He  has  done  for  us.  Whatever  we 
have  of  grace  has  come  to  us  through  Him,  but 
is  He  not  Mary's  Son?  All  increase  of  grace 
is  His  gift,  and,  in  an  especial  manner,  the  great 
Sacrament  of  the  Eucharist,  that  nourishes  the 
life  of  our  souls,  is  His  gift;  but  is  it  not  true 


Golgotha  77 


that  the  Body  and  Blood  received  in  Holy  Com- 
munion were  formed  of  her  body  and  blood? 
In  the  sacrifice  on  Golgotha,  He  it  was  that 
died  that  we  might  live,  but  it  was  the  death 
of  the  human  Christ;  He  felt  no  pain,  no  sor- 
row in  His  Divine  nature;  it  was  His  Body  that 
was  lacerated  and  it  is  His  Sacred  Blood  that 
purifies  the  soul  and  did  He  not  receive  His 
Body  and  Blood  from  Mary  His  Mother? 

We  do  not  forget  that  it  was  the  Divinity 
of  Christ  that  gave  efficacy  to  His  suffering  and 
death,  and  made  it  possible  for  Him  to  atone 
for  the  sins  of  the  world,  but  His  humanity  was 
the  instrument  of  His  suffering  and  His  human- 
ity was  as  closely  related  to  Mary  as  ever  son 
was  to  mother!  It  is  for  this  reason  that  the 
great  saints  of  the  Church  do  not  hesitate  to 
call  the  Holy  Virgin,  the  co-Redemptrix  of  the 
world.  She  is  the  Mother  of  Grace,  the  Mother 
of  life,  for  Christ  is  life. 

"Yes,  Mother,  we  were  truly  born  of  thee, 
In  Calvary's  second   Eden — thou   its   Eve — 

Thy   Dolors   were   our  birth-pangs,   by   the   Tree, 
Whereon  thy  dear  Son  died  that  we  might  live." 

Behold  then,  thy  Mother,  standing  in  the 
shadow  of  the  Cross!  or,  if  you  choose,  behold 
His  Mother!  His  Mother  or  our  Mother,  it  is 
all  the  same,  for  He  is  our  Brother,  He  is  the 
first  born  of  many  brethren,  our  Brother,  in  like- 


78  Golgotha 


ness  of  nature,  in  tenderness  of  mercy,  in  one- 
ness of  life  made  possible  through  the  Holy 
Eucharist.  His  Mother!  what  is  there  that  she 
cannot  obtain  for  us?  She  need  not  beg  for 
favors;  it  would  not  be  the  proper  thing  for 
a  mother  to  do,  she  can  command  as  she  did 
command  when  on  earth  and  if  a  dutiful  son 
will  do  what  his  mother  wishes,  how  blind  must 
they  be  who  imagine  that  the  Divine  Son  of 
Mary  will  refuse  anything  to  His  Mother.  Our 
mother.  What  is  there  that  she  will  not  obtain 
for  us?  No  earthly  mother  is  capable  of  as 
much  tenderness  of  love  as  is  the  great  Queen 
of  Heaven,  and  yet  an  earthly  mother  will  go 
through  fire  and  water  to  help  even  her  way- 
ward child. 

We  have,  it  is  true,  but  one  advocate  with  the 
Father.  He  was  our  advocate  when  from  His 
little  bed  of  straw  He  stretched  forth  His  in- 
fant arms  to  pray  for  us.  He  was  our  advocate 
when  in  the  solitude  of  Nazareth  He  calmly 
awaited  the  day  appointed  by  His  Father  to 
begin  the  work  of  Redemption.  He  was  our 
advocate  when  He  hung  upon  the  Cross  and 
prayed  for  us.  He  is  our  advocate  now,  though 
He  sits  at  the  right  hand  of  God.  But  He  is 
Mary's  Son,  and,  in  another  sense,  she  too  is 
our  advocate.  He  is  our  advocate  with  the 


Golgotha  79 


Father;  she  is  our  advocate  with  Him.  Mother 
and  Son,  who  will  dare  to  separate  them  and 
who  will  dare  to  deny  that  Mary  can  pray  for 
us?  We  may  pray  for  one  another.  Christ 
taught  us  thus  to  pray,  to  ask  not  for  ourselves 
alone,  but  for  our  brethren:  "Give  us  our  daily 
bread,"  "forgive  us  our  sins,"  "deliver  us  from 
evil."  We,  poor  sinners,  may  pray  one  for  an- 
other. Cannot  the  Mother  of  God  do  likewise? 
It  is  not  taking  any  glory  from  the  Son  if  we 
give  the  Mother  her  due.  She  is  not  the  advo- 
cate with  the  Father  in  the  same  sense  as  her 
Divine  Son,  Who  by  His  own  power,  by  His 
own  merits  stands  between  us  and  God.  Mary, 
through  the  merits  of  her  Son,  and  by  reason 
of  her  dignity  as  Mother,  can  pray  that  we 
may  be  made  partakers  in  the  fruits  of  the  Re- 
demption. As  Mother  of  God  she  can  pray,  as 
our  Mother  she  does  pray,  and  for  this  reason 
she  is  called  by  the  Church,  our  gracious  advo- 
cate, advocate  with  the  Father,  for  she  is  His 
daughter ;  advocate  with  the  Holy  Spirit,  for  she 
is  His  spouse;  advocate  with  the  Son,  for  she 
is  His  Mother. 

Filled  with  confidence  in  the  power  of  her 
intercession  there  is  one  thing  that  we  must  ask 
of  her  to-day,  it  is  the  one  important  thing  for 
which  Christ  dies,  the  grace  of  saving  our  im- 


8o  Golgotha 


mortal  souls.  We  have  already  studied  what 
salvation  means,  how  its  very  thought  over- 
shadows all  the  trials  and  disappointments  of 
life  and  we  may  now  recall  what  the  saints 
have  said  of  Mary's  power  in  helping  us  to  at- 
tain this  great  eternal  boon.  All  that  they  have 
said  about  devotion  to  the  Blessed  Mother  of 
God  being  a  "pledge  of  salvation"  a  "mark  of 
predestination"  and  "a  guaranty  of  persever- 
ance in  grace"  has  been  very  beautifully  ex- 
pressed in  the  following  lines : 

"Whene'er  I  doubt  if  one  so  base  as_  I  ^ 
Shall  share  with  heavenly  choirs  their  joys  serene, 
This  thought  brings  sweetest  solace  to  my  soul, 
That  Thou,  my  Lady,  art  the  Angels'   Queen. 
Shall  I,  then,  fear  to  face  the  glittering  ranks 
That   guard   from   step   profane,   Heaven's   dazzling 

scene? 

Their  flame-tipped  swords  will  lower  at  the  cry: 
'Angels  of  God,  my  Mother  is  your  Queen!'" 

The  one  thing  to  be  noted  is  that  if  we 
claim  Mary  as  our  Mother,  we  must  endeavor 
to  prove,  by  virtuous  living,  that  we  are  in 
very  truth  her  children!  The  child  resembles 
his  mother ;  we  must  imitate  her  virtues.  The 
child  loves  his  mother;  we  must  love  Mary! 
The  child  has  confidence  in  his  mother,  feels 
secure  in  her  care;  we  must  have  confidence 
and  feel  secure  in  the  care  of  our  Heavenly 
Mother. 


FORSAKEN! 

The  words  which  we  have  thus  far  consid- 
ered, were  spoken,  according  to  commentators, 
at  the  commencement  of  Christ's  agony  on  the 
Cross.  There  followed  a  protracted  period  of 
awe-inspiring  silence.  The  jeers  of  the  rabble 
had  ceased  and  most  of  the  spectators  turned 
back  to  the  city  and  sought  the  shelter  of  their 
homes.  The  few  that  remained  stood  afar  off  in 
groups  of  twos  and  threes  and  felt  the  terrible 
agony  of  fear.  There  are  moments  in  the  lives 
of  all  of  us  when  we  experience  what  a  strange 
thing  fear  is  and  how  utterly  weak  and  power- 
less beings  we  are  when  its  cold  grasp  clutches 
at  our  hearts.  We  sometimes  try  to  conceal  it, 
but  the  pallid  face  and  trembling  hands  be- 
tray us. 

The  rabble  feared,  the  murderous  priests 
feared,  the  soldiers  feared  and  the  dispersed 
Apostles  feared.  There  were,  no  doubt,  various 
gatherings  throughout  the  city,  where  the  deed 
already  accomplished  was  discussed,  and  plans 
were  made  for  future  conduct.  In  the  house  of 
Caiphas,  some  one  suggests,  we  may  imagine, 
that  a  record  of  the  day's  doings  be  spread  upon 
the  Temple  register. 


82  Golgotha 


"What  shall  we  write?"  asks  one. 

"This  day  we  have  crucified  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth !"  is  proposed. 

"No!  No!"  it  is  objected,  "Say  rather  that 
the  Roman  Governor  ordered  the  execution  of 
an  enemy  of  Caesar!" 

"Are  we  then  to  be  deprived  of  the  glory  of 
our  deed?"  asks  some  more  obstinate  than  the 
rest;  but  there  is  no  inclination  among  them  to 
claim  any  glory.  Fear  has  seized  upon  them. 
They  look  out  towards  Golgotha  or  hear  the 
dull  thud  of  hastening  footsteps  along  the  city 
streets  or  the  low  murmur  of  the  returning  rab- 
ble and  their  fear  increases. 

Amongst  the  dispersed  Apostles  there  is,  for 
the  most  part,  a  sorrowful  silence.  Some  of 
the  disciples  may  have  already  yielded  to  the 
despair  of  incredulity.  "We  thought  that  He 
was  to  restore  Israel,  but  now  our  hopes  are 
nailed  to  a  Cross,"  they  reflect  and  plunge 
deeper  and  deeper  into  despair.  Such  uncer- 
tainty could  hardly  have  place  among  the  scat- 
tered remnants  of  the  Twelve.  They  understood 
now,  as  they  did  not  understand  before,  some 
of  their  Master's  sayings.  "Behold  we  go  up 
to  Jerusalem/'  He  told  them  but  a  short  time 
ago,  "and  all  things  shall  be  accomplished  which 
were  written  by  the  prophets  concerning  the 


Golgotha  83 


Son  of  man.  For  He  shall  be  delivered  to  the 
Gentiles  and  shall  be  mocked  and  scourged  and 
spit  upon  and  after  they  have  scourged  Him 
they  will  put  Him  to  death,  and  the  third  day 
He  shall  rise  again." 

These  and  similar  words  occur  to  them,  and 
there  is  the  dawn  of  understanding.  The  first 
part  they  understand  fully,  but  they  seem  in 
woeful  ignorance  of  the  promise  to  rise  again, 
for,  if  they  had  grasped  the  meaning  of  this 
clearly  expressed  promise,  they  would  now,  it 
seems  to  us,  rush  out  to  the  Cross  and  swear 
allegiance  to  their  Crucified  Master.  As  it  is 
they  give  way  to  grief,  and  to  fear,  or,  if  they 
hope,  it  is  a  hope  unaccompanied  by  firm  belief 
that  He  who  has  been  Crucified  is  their  God. 
Shame  too  must  be  in  their  hearts,  when  from 
afar  they  gaze  upon  the  Cross  standing  out  omi- 
nously against  the  sky  and  think  how  Mary 
and  John  and  even  Magdalene  are  standing  by 
the  side  of  the  Master,  faithful  to  Him  even  in 
His  agony  and  disgrace. 

Nearer  the  scene  of  the  crucifixion  the  voices 
of  men  are  hushed.  Christ  does  not  speak  to 
man;  He  is  speaking  from  the  depths  of  His 
Soul  to  His  Father.  Mary  and  John  cannot 
speak;  grief  has  sealed  their  lips.  The  soldiers 
who  are  forced  to  stay  on  guard  are  ill  dis- 


84  Golgotha 


posed  to  break  the  dead  silence;  their  fear  has 
made  them  speechless. 

What  has  come  over  the  scene?  How  can 
we  account  for  this  sudden  and  terrible  change? 
A  few  moments  ago  the  walls  of  the  city  echoed 
to  the  shouts  of  nearly  a  million  madmen;  now 
all  is  silent,  except  for  the  occasional  screams 
of  frightened  birds  of  prey  that  flit  across  the 
sky  and  dash  wildly  they  know  not  whither, 
and  the  lowing  of  terrified  cattle  in  the  neigh- 
boring fields  that  hasten  in  mad  disorder  in 
search  of  cover.  What  is  it  that  has  happened? 
The  change  from  echoing  shouts  to  sepulchral 
silence  must  have  some  proportionate  cause. 

It  has  a  proportionate  cause.  Far  away  from 
Golgotha,  far  away  from  the  Holy  City,  even 
in  distant  Athens,  there  were  some  Grecian 
philosophers  assembled.  They  knew  nothing  of 
the  Deicidal  crime  that  was  in  progress,  they 
knew  nothing  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  nothing  of 
His  doctrine,  nothing  of  His  most  remarkable 
career ;  but  they  knew  something  about  the  laws 
of  Nature,  and  when  they  observed  what  was 
taking  place,  they  were  struck  dumb  by  the 
unusualness  of  it  all.  One  of  them,  it  is  re- 
ported, arose  before  the  assembly  and  exclaimed : 
"Either  the  God  of  nature  suffers  or  the  world 
is  in  the  throes  of  dissolution!" 


Golgotha  85 


Darkness  had  overshadowed  the  earth!  "It 
was  the  sixth  hour,"  says  St.  Luke,  "and  there 
was  darkness  over  all  the  earth  until  the  ninth 
hour."  It  was  in  striking  fulfillment  of  the 
prophetic  utterance:  "Behold  darkness  shall 
cover  the  earth  and  a  mist  the  people."  Once 
during  our  Lord's  life-time  He  ascended  to 
Mount  Thabor  and,  while  engaged  in  prayer, 
His  garments  shone  like  snow  and  His  face  be- 
came like  the  sun.  His  majesty  changed  the 
darkness  of  night  into  the  splendor  of  noonday. 
Now  in  His  anguish  He  changes  the  brilliancy 
of  noonday  into  the  gloom  and  silence  of  night. 

No  wonder  the  scoffers  dispersed,  no  wonder 
they  rushed  back  to  the  city,  and  sought  their 
homes.  The  mangled  Body  of  Jesus  Christ  on 
the  Cross  was  incapable  of  arousing  fear  in 
their  hearts,  but  seen  against  a  black  noonday 
sky  it  became  terrible!  The  consequent  gloom 
became  unbearable  and  it  generated  an  interior 
gloom  that  forced  them  to  feel  the  utter  help- 
lessness and  insignificance  of  man. 

There  is  a  darkness  that  is  natural,  the  dark- 
ness of  night.  It  does  not  beget  fear,  because  it 
is  sent  by  the  goodness  of  God  as  a  time  of 
rest  to  the  weary  world.  It  is  during  the  dark- 
ness of  night,  when  men  are  at  rest,  that  the 
beasts  of  the  wilderness  become  active.  During 


86  Golgotha 


the  silent  hours  of  the  night,  the  prince  of  dark- 
ness prowls  about  like  a  roaring  lion,  seeking 
whom  he  may  devour.  During  the  night,  his 
slaves,  those  who  do  evil  and  hate  the  light,  the 
human  beasts,  go  about  their  deeds  of  dark- 
ness. They  have  converted  night  into  day! 

There  is  an  intellectual  darkness,  the  dark- 
ness of  ignorance  of  the  things  of  God.  It  is 
sometimes  unavoidable,  but  it  is  often  voluntary. 
Blind  lead  the  blind  and  both  fall  into  the  yawn- 
ing abyss.  Man  is  blind  by  reason  of  the  fall. 
He  needs  guidance.  He  needs  supernatural 
guidance.  He  loses  himself  when  he  struggles 
on  through  life  alone.  That  is  why  Christ  has 
left  on  earth  His  Church  to  guide  us  on  the 
right  way  in  matters  of  faith  and  morals. 

We  always  need  our  Lord,  but  in  darkness 
we  need  Him  in  a  special  manner.  This  is  true 
of  the  natural  darkness  of  night.  It  is  true  of 
the  darkness  of  intellect.  It  is  true  of  the 
darkness  that  will  fall  upon  us  in  the  "last 
evening"  of  life.  It  will  be  very  still  then  about 
the  house.  Our  friends  will  move  to  and  fro 
on  tiptoe,  and  whisper  to  one  another  in  a  sad, 
soft  tone.  Our  eyes  will  grow  dim  and  objects 
will  appear  in  strange,  unusual  shapes.  Those 
that  stand  near  will  seem  far  off.  Our  breath- 
ing will  become  shorter  and  quicker  and  at  in- 


Golgotha  87 


tervals  it  will  stop  and  then  begin  again.  Our 
eyes  will  roll  and  our  brows  will  be  wet  with 
perspiration.  The  end  will  be  near.  It  will  be 
the  evening  of  life.  Then  we  shall  need  our 
Savior,  because  nothing  else,  nobody  else,  can 
comfort  us.  If  He  does  not  come  in  to  abide 
with  us,  it  will  be  unutterably  dark  on  that  last 
evening  and  unutterably  sad,  too.  We  shall 
need  Him  to  light  us  through  the  valley  of 
shadows.  Our  prayer  should  be:  "Abide  with 
us,  for  it  is  toward  evening."  Then  His  com- 
ing will  bring  light  and  joy.  Then  the  last  eve- 
ning of  life  will  be  calm  and  peaceful,  it  will 
be  a  going  home,  it  will  be  a  sleep  from  which 
we  shall  waken  in  the  presence  of  the  Savior 
Who  loves  us  now  and  will  love  us  then,  as  He 
loved  us  when  He  was  on  the  Cross.  It  was 
His  love  for  us  that  caused  the  exterior  dark- 
ness which  we  have  seen  and  the  interior  dark- 
ness which  we  are  now  to  study. 

Christ  is  in  His  agony.  He  wishes  to  ex- 
perience everything  that  is  to  come  within  the 
experience  of  man,  so  that  He  may  leave  us  an 
example  to  follow.  The  darkness  without  is  but 
a  suggestion  of  the  darkness  that  has  settled 
on  His  human  soul.  Some  have  suggested  that 
the  exterior  darkness  is  best  explained  by  say- 
ing that  nature  mourned  for  nature's  God. 


Golgotha 


This  was  indeed  the  meaning  attached  to  it  by 
the  Grecian  philosopher,  Dionysius,  when  before 
his  assembled  comrades  he  declared  that  either 
the  God  of  nature  was  suffering  or  that  nature 
herself  was  in  the  throes  of  dissolution.  Nor 
is  there  any  reason  to  suppose  that  such  a  phe- 
nomenon would  not  be  in  keeping  with  the 
economy  of  God.  When  the  Pharisees  objected 
to  our  Lord's  triumphant  entry  into  Jerusalem 
and  to  the  shouts  of  welcome  with  which  He 
was  greeted  by  the  enthusiastic  populace,  He 
told  them  that  the  very  stones  would  cry  out, 
were  the  people  to  hold  their  tongues.  Now, 
with  the  circumstances  changed,  when  the  people 
refuse  to  be  moved  to  pity  at  the  sight  of  the 
God-man  hanging  on  a  Cross,  it  is  quite  pos- 
sible that  God  permitted  even  inanimate  nature 
to  grieve  for  the  death  of  His  Eternal  Son. 
There  is  darkness  over  all  the  earth,  the  sun 
refuses  to  shine  upon  the  work  of  blood,  the 
very  rocks,  more  tender  than  passion-gripped 
hearts,  are  torn  asunder  and  the  earth  seems 
ready  to  open  and  swallow  up  the  blasphemous 
Deicides. 

During  the  terrible  silence,  and  this  awe-in- 
spiring darkness,  the  Savior  speaks  again.  He 
speaks  briefly,  but  terribly.  "Eloi!  Eloi!  Lamma 
Sabacthani!" — My  God,  my  God,  why  hast 


Golgotha 


Thou  forsaken  Me? — How  painfully  in  keeping 
with  the  lowering  darkness  is  that  piteous  cry! 

Forsaken!  Most  of  us  know  the  meaning  of 
the  word.  Sometimes  devoted  mothers  are  for- 
saken by  the  children  whom  they  nourished 
and  for  whom  they  toiled  and  sacrificed  them- 
selves. They  are  compelled  to  struggle  hard 
and  long  to  keep  body  and  soul  together,  even 
while,  in  some  instances,  their  ungrateful  sons 
and  daughters  live  in  luxury  and  ease.  "Mother, 
you  have  been  very  good  to  me!"  said  a  young 
man  as  he  stood  at  the  death  bed  of  her  who 
raised  him,  gave  him  an  education,  and,  by  per- 
sonal sacrifice  which  shortened  her  life,  sent  him 
well-equipped  into  the  world.  "Mother,  you 
have  been  very  good  to  me."  The  dying  woman 
looked  at  him  with  tears  in  her  eyes  and  spoke 
her  last  words  on  earth:  "John,"  she  said,  "this 
is  the  first  time  you  ever  said  so!"  She  had 
been  forsaken  by  her  son. 

On  the  other  hand,  children  are  sometimes 
forsaken  by  their  parents.  I  refer  not  alone  to 
those  who  in  tender  infancy  are  left  on  the  door- 
step of  a  stranger;  I  refer,  and  with  emphasis, 
to  those  who  later  on  in  life  abandon  their  chil- 
dren to  the  blind  guidance  of  the  blind,  to  the 
Godless  education  of  the  world  where  they  are 


90  Golgotha 


taught  many  things  that  either  directly  or  indi- 
rectly blow  out  the  light  within  their  souls. 

Forsaken!  You  may  have  been  forsaken  by 
those  you  love.  The  young  man  trifles  with  the 
affections  of  a  girl  and  leaves  her  in  a  world  of 
gloom.  You  assist  a  friend  to  rise  to  power 
or  to  wealth  and  when  the  coveted  boon  is  pos- 
sessed he  forgets  your  efforts  and  your  friend- 
ship and  you  feel  what  a  volume  is  contained 
in  that  one  word,  forsaken. 

It  is  a  fearful  thing  to  be  forsaken  by  man, 
but  to  be  forsaken  by  God !  it  is  beyond  expres- 
sion terrible.  Greater  than  the  company  of 
demons,  greater  than  the  very  torments  with 
which  sin  is  punished,  greater  than  eternity  it- 
self, to  be  forsaken  by  God,  to  hear  those  awful 
words,  "Depart  from  Me,"  is  the  very  thing 
that  makes  hell  what  it  is;  just  as,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  friendship  and  love  of  God  make 
Heaven  a  place  of  indescribable  happiness. 

Now  listen  to  what  the  dying  Savior  says: 
"My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  Thou  forsaken 
Me?  My  people  whom  I  loved  and  for  whom 
I  toiled,  have  forsaken  Me  and  have  nailed  Me 
to  this  Cross ;  the  priests,  who  inspired  the  mul- 
titude with  cries  of  bitter  hatred,  have  forsaken 
Me;  even  My  beloved  disciples  have  fled  from 


Golgotha  91 


Me,  but,  O  My  God,  why  hast  Thou  forsaken 
Me?" 

What  can  He  mean?  Is  it  not  He  of  Whom 
it  was  written:  "Ask  of  Me  and  I  shall  give 
Thee  the  Gentiles  for  Thine  inheritance  and  the 
uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for  Thy  posses- 
sion?" At  His  birth  the  Angels  sang  and  made 
the  hills  of  Bethlehem  vocal  with  their  songs 
of  triumph.  At  His  entrance  into  public  life 
a  voice  was  heard  from  Heaven  saying:  "This 
is  My  beloved  Son  in  Whom  I  am  well  pleased." 
Can  it  be  that  God  is  displeased  now?  Listen, 
from  His  own  lips  there  comes  the  cry:  "My 
God,  my  God,  why  hast  Thou  forsaken  Me?" 

What  can  it  mean?  There  are  many  explana- 
tions given  by  the  Holy  Fathers  of  the  Church. 
"I  know  not,"  writes  one,  "if  any  mortal  man 
can  understand  how  much  mystery  lies  hidden 
beneath  these  words  of  expostulation."  "Be- 
ware," says  St.  Bernard,  as  if  objecting  to  the 
word  'expostulation,'  "of  thinking  that  our  Lord 
Jesus  has  been  betrayed  into  impatience,  for  all 
the  while  that  He  was  enduring  the  extreme 
bitterness  of  the  Cross,  nothing  but  sweetness 
issued  from  His  Heart."  And  St.  Leo  warns 
us  not  to  interpret  the  words  "as  if  the  omnipo- 
tence of  God  had  withdrawn  from  Him,  for  the 
nature  of  God  and  the  nature  of  man  are  so 


92  Golgotha 


united  that  never  can  torments  separate,  nor 
death  divide.  The  word  is  not  a  murmur,  but 
a  heavenly  lesson." 

We  must  not  then  interpret  the  words  as  if 
our  Lord  were  really  forsaken  by  His  Father, 
except  that  being  willing  to  drink,  to  the  last 
dregs,  the  chalice  which  was  prepared  for  Him 
and  having  taken  the  place  of  the  sinner,  He 
experiences  momentarily  the  last  awful  result 
of  sin,  abandonment  by  God,  as  far  as  the  Eter- 
nal Son  of  God  could  experience  such  aban- 
donment. 

More  in  keeping  with  the  prayerfulness  which 
our  Lord  ever  manifested  is  the  suggestion  of 
those  who  remind  us  that  the  21st  Psalm  begins 
with  those  words — "My  God,  my  God,  look 
upon  Me!  Why  hast  Thou  forsaken  Me?"  They 
assume  that  Christ  was  occupied,  during  the 
hours  of  silent  darkness,  in  the  prayerful  recital 
of  the  Psalms,  of  those  particularly  which  re- 
ferred to  His  death.  When  He  came  to  the  21st 
which  details  the  horrors  of  the  crucifixion,  He 
began  its  recital  in  a  loud  voice,  as  if  to  call 
our  attention  to  the  vividness  Avith  which  David 
described  the  Passion.  Amongst  other  senti- 
ments the  Psalmist  speaking  in  the  Person  of 
Christ  Crucified  expresses  himself  thus : 

"I  am  a  worm  and  no  man,  the  reproach  of 


Golgotha  93 


men  and  the  outcast  of  the  people.  All  they 
that  saw  Me  have  laughed  Me  to  scorn;  they 
have  spoken  with  their  lips  and  wagged  their 
heads,  saying,  He  hoped  in  the  Lord,  let  Him 
save  Him,  seeing  He  delighted  in  Him.  *  *  * 
Many  dogs  have  encompassed  me;  the  council 
of  the  malignant  hath  besieged  Me.  They  have 
dug  My  hands  and  feet,  they  have  numbered 
all  My  bones.*  *  *  They  have  parted  My  gar- 
ments amongst  them  and  upon  My  vesture  they 
cast  lots." 

How  remarkable  is  the  description  of  David 
and  how  natural  it  is  for  Him  Whom  David 
impersonated  to  recall  these  prophetic  words  and 
the  prayers  for  mercy  that  are  contained  in  the 
Psalm,  at  the  moment  when  they  are  being  so 
literally  and  so  terribly  fulfilled ! 

There  is  still  another  explanation  of  the  cry 
of  our  Lord.  It  is  St.  Cyprian's.  Our  Lord, 
the  saint  tells  us,  is  thinking  of  us,  praying  for 
us,  appealing  to  us.  "Why,  O  Father,  hast 
Thou  forsaken  Me?  Why  hast  Thou  permitted 
this  cruel  agony?  Is  it  not  for  the  salvation  of 
the  world  ?  Is  it  not  because  Thou  hast  so  loved 
the  world  as  to  deliver  Me,  Thine  only  begot- 
ten Son,  for  its  redemption?"  Yes,  let  us  ask 
the  question,  in  this  spirit.  Gazing  upon  the 
face  of  Christ  let  us  ask:  "Why  is  He  for- 


94  Golgotha 


saken?"  St.  Paul  tells  us  and  he  tells  us  in 
words  that  strike  us  individually:  "He  loved 
me  and  delivered  Himself  up  for  me!"  That 
is  the  answer,  He  is  forsaken  momentarily  so 
that  I  may  not  be  forsaken  forever! 


I  THIRST 

The  end  is  drawing  near,  the  great  tragedy 
is  almost  over.  The  soldiers  who  had  caught 
only  the  first  syllables  of  the  last  cry  of  the 
Sufferer  were  seized  with  the  false  impression 
that  He  had  called  upon  Elias  and  with  great 
excitement  and  terror  they  say  one  to  another: 
"Let  us  see  if  Elias  will  come  to  help  Him." 
Involuntarily,  they  were  acknowledging  a  half- 
belief  in  His  Divinity  which  they  took  infinite 
pains  to  smother.  The  unnatural  eclipse  was 
well  capable  of  inspiring  this  new  dread.  Their 
half-belief  was  born  of  a  full  consciousness  of 
guilt.  They  look  up  at  the  Victim  on  the  Cross, 
their  eyes  meet  His  and  He  speaks  to  them  ap- 
pealingly:  I  thirst! 

This  is  the  first  expression  of  physical  pain 
wrung  from  the  Savior  in  the  whole  Sacred 
Passion.  Hitherto  He  thought  only  of  us;  He 
prayed  for  mercy,  He  granted  pardon  to  the 
penitent,  He  appointed  Mary  the  Mother  of  the 
human  race,  He  expressed,  with  terrifying  vivid- 
ness, the  abandonment  consequent  on  sin;  but 
now  He  complains  of  thirst.  He  has,  seem- 
ingly, directed  His  thoughts  to  Himself  and  to 
His  sufferings. 


g6  Golgotha 


I  thirst!  What  a  strange  word  coming  from 
the  lips  of  Jesus  Christ!  We  know  with  what 
abundant  reason  He  thirsts;  He  had  lost  so 
much  blood  in  the  Garden,  during  the  scourg- 
ing and  on  the  Cross,  and  loss  of  blood  causes 
such  thirst  that  sometimes  a  poor  sufferer  for- 
gets all  other  pain  and  cries  for  something  to 
drink.  No  sufferer  ever  thirsted  as  Christ 
thirsts;  but  still  it  is  strange  when  we  recall 
the  words  which  He  uttered  on  other  occasions, 
"If  any  man  thirst,  let  him  come  to  Me  and 
drink"  and  "the  water  that  I  will  give  him 
shall  become  in  him  a  fountain  springing  up 
unto  life  everlasting."  It  is  strange,  because 
Crucified  though  He  be,  He  is  still  God  and 
as  God  He  spoke  through  the  Prophet  Jeremias : 
"Be  astonished  O  ye  Heavens,  and  ye  gates 
thereof,  be  desolate.  For  My  people  have  done 
two  evil  things.  They  have  forsaken  Me,  the 
Fountain  of  living  waters,  and  have  digged  foi 
themselves  cisterns,  broken  cisterns  that  can 
hold  no  water."  He  gave  others  to  drink,  He 
is  the  fountain  of  living  waters,  why  is  He  Him- 
self tortured  by  thirst?  Such  a  question  readily 
suggests  itself  to  us.  It  springs  not  from 
blasphemous  scepticism  of  the  Jews,  but  from 
a  desire  to  understand  in  what  sense  and  why 
the  Savior  feels  the  additional  torment  of  thirst. 


Golgotha  97 


When  we  understand  the  nature  of  His  thirst 
and  the  excess  of  love  that  prompted  the  ap- 
parent appeal  for  something  to  moisten  His 
parched  lips,  the  words  lose  all  their  strange- 
ness and  what,  at  first  sight,  seems  a  complaint 
becomes  an  heroic  act  of  love.  "Afterwards, 
Jesus,  knowing  that  all 'things  were  now  accom- 
plished, that  the  Scripture  might  be  fulfilled, 
said:  I  thirst."  The  Royal  Psalmist  had  said: 
"They  gave  Me  gall  for  My  food  and  in  My 
thirst  they  gave  Me  for  drink,  vinegar."  Christ 
then  did  not  plead  for  a  cooling  potion,  it  was 
not  a  cry  for  water;  it  was  the  expression  of  a 
desire  to  drink  the  bitter  chalice  of  His  Pas- 
sion to  the  last  dreg.  As  soon  as  the  soldiers 
heard  His  cry  they  fixed  a  sponge  on  the  point 
of  a  spear  and  filling  it  with  vinegar  and  hys- 
sop, they  put  it  to  His  mouth.  This  is  what 
our  Lord  wanted ;  more  suffering  and  more  bit- 
terness! It  was  in  later  years  this  thirst  of 
our  Lord  for  suffering  that  made  His  fervent 
followers,  like  St.  Francis  Xavier,  sigh  for  ever 
increasing  suffering.  "Yet  more,  O  Lord,  yet 
more!"  the  great  Apostle  of  the  Indies  cried 
when,  in  an  agony  of  pain  and  sorrow,  he  re- 
called how  the  Savior  suffered  for  the  souls  of 
men.  The  same  heroic  desire  to  become  Christ- 
like  prompted  St.  Teresa  to  long  for  one  of  two 


Golgotha 


things;  either  "to  suffer  or  to  die."  To  suffer 
in  order  to  be  like  Christ,  or,  to  die,  in  order 
to  be  with  Christ! 

Exalted  sanctity  may  be  required  to  pray  for 
more  suffering;  but  ordinary  Christianity  ought 
to  suffice  for  patience  and  resignation  to  the 
Divine  will.  "Pray  not,"  said  a  truly  Christian 
sufferer  to  one  who  had  promised  prayers  for  a 
speedy  cure,  "pray  not  that  I  be  relieved  of 
pain,  but  pray  that  God  will  give  me  grace  to 
bear  with  continual  patience  and  resignation  the 
pain  He  is  pleased  to  send." 

"I  thirst,"  said  Christ  before  they  gave  Him 
vinegar  and  gall.  "I  thirst  the  more,"  He  may 
well  say  now  that  His  parched  lips  are  drenched 
in  bitterness.  But  great  as  was  this  torment, 
there  was  another  thirst,  of  which  the  bystand- 
ers knew  nothing.  It  was  more  keenly  felt  and 
more  deeply  fixed  in  the  Savior's  trembling 
breast.—"/  thirst  for  souls!" 

It  is  not  impossible  that  at  this  very  moment, 
the  Savior  looked  down  upon  a  scene  that  to 
His  loving  Heart  was  the  cause  of  more  bitter 
pangs  than  those  of  bodily  thirst.  He  saw  a 
man  rushing  madly  through  the  streets  of  Jerus- 
alem towards  the  temple  where  the  High  Priests 
had  assembled.  Frightened  by  the  midday  dark- 
ness and  blinded  by  the  still  more  terrible  dark- 


Golgotha  99 


ness  of  despair  that  encompassed  his  soul,  Judas, 
the  traitor,  Judas  who  had  forfeited  the  Apos- 
tolic dignity,  sought  the  men  to  whom  he  had 
sold  his  Master.  Holding  in  deadly  grasp  the 
bag  of  money,  that  yesterday  seemed  so  tempt- 
ing and  that  was  such  a  heavy  burden  to-day, 
trembling  in  every  portion  of  his  being,  and 
yet  with  the  firmness  of  despair  and  reckless- 
ness, he  entered  into  the  presence  of  the  Priests. 
"Murderers!"  he  cried,  "Murderers  and  deceiv- 
ers! You  have  caused  me  to  barter  away  an 
Apostle's  glory  and  the  inheritance  of  life  eter- 
nal !  And  for  what?  For  this !  for  this  wretched 
gain,  wages  of  guilt,  blood-money !  I  shall  have 
none  of  it.  Take  it  back,  and  with  it  take  the 
curse  of  an  apostate !" 

The  priests  were  willing  to  promote  their  in- 
terests by  murder,  by  bribery,  by  lies,  but  now, 
hypocrites  that  they  are,  they  have  a  scruple. 
They  will  not  compromise  the  purity  of  the 
sacred  treasury  by  taking  back  the  sordid  coin, 
they  will  on  no  account  defile  their  hands  by 
touching  the  blood-stained  money.  They  saw 
very  clearly  and  unmistakably  the  blood  upon 
the  pieces  of  silver;  they  did  not  see,  nor  care 
to  see,  the  blood  upon  their  souls! 

"What  is  it  to  us?"  they  ask,  "it  is  your  own 


ioo  Golgotha 


affair.  See  you  to  it!"  And  they  bid  the 
traitor  go. 

But  Judas  does  not  go.  He  can  at  least  rid 
himself  of  the  sordid  gain.  "Take  back  your 
money!"  he  exclaims  and  flinging  it  upon  the 
pavement  of  the  temple,  he  departs  leaving  the 
priests  overwhelmed  with  anxiety  and  scruples. 

If  Judas  only  turned  to  the  Cross,  if  he  but 
prayed  for  mercy.  He  was  sorry,  but  it  was  the 
deadly  sorrow  of  despair.  He  grieved,  but  he 
grieved  as  one  who  had  no  hope.  He  would 
not  look  upon  the  Cross.  He  would  not  say: 
"Jesus,  Son  of  David,  have  mercy  on  me!"  He 
would  not  seek  for  Mary  to  tell  her  of  his 
crime  and  so  he  added  guilt  to  guilt,  for  despair 
is  an  insult  directed  against  the  goodness  of 
God.  He  plunged  from  low  to  lower  depth 
until  at  last  he  secured  a  halter  and  hanged 
himself. 

We  know  not  what  miracle  God's  grace  may 
have  wrought  in  his  wretched  soul,  even  when 
he  hung  between  heaven  and  earth,  we  even 
feel  inclined  to  confound  the  sorrow  of  despair 
with  the  tears  of  the  penitent,  but  this  is  an 
awful  mistake;  despair  is  not  contrition,  it  is  a 
terrible  act  of  rebellion,  an  insult  against  the 
goodness  of  God.  When  man  sins  he  abuses 
God's  justice,  when  he  despairs  he  abuses  His 


Golgotha  101 


infinite  goodness.  To  despair  is  to  say  that  God 
is  not  good  and  merciful,  and  Judas  despaired. 

Christ  saw  it  all.  He  saw  beyond  that  scene 
far  down  the  avenue  of  centuries,  even  to  the 
end  of  time,  and  thought  of  those  who  like 
Judas  would  refuse  to  turn  to  Him  and  ask 
for  pardon.  He  thought  of  the  poor  sinners 
for  whom  He  shed  His  blood  in  vain,  and  in 
excess  of  love,  He  cries:  I  thirst,  I  thirst  for 
souls ! 

I  thirst!  Ah  if  we  were  there!  If,  with  the 
knowledge  we  now  have  of  His  infinite  love  for 
us  and  for  the  souls  of  men,  should  we  not  rush 
to  give  Him  to  drink?  Should  we  not  claim 
the  privilege  of  offering  a  glass  of  water  to 
quench  His  dying  thirst?  We  should  act  thus 
in  the  case  of  the  greatest  criminal  on  earth! 
And  yet,  we  were  there,  everyone  of  us  was 
there,  but  not,  alas,  to  comfort  the  dying  Savior, 
we  were  there  as  sinners  to  increase  His  thirst. 
But  now  we  can  relieve  Him,  now  we  have 
power  to  diminish  His  thirst  for  souls,  we  can 
offer  Him  our  own  souls,  we  can  dedicate  our- 
selves to  His  service  and  labor  in  bringing 
others  to  a  knowledge  and  an  appreciation  of 
His  love. 

Yes  and  we  can  diminish  His  physical  thirst. 
Does  He  not  tell  us  that,  on  the  last  day,  He 


IO2  Golgotha 


will  address  us  and  say:  "I  was  thirsty  and 
you  gave  Me  to  drink?"  and  does  He  not  add, 
by  way  of  explanation,  that  "whatsoever  you  do 
to  the  least  of  My  brethern  you  do  it  unto  Me?" 
Yes,  we  can  give  Him  to  drink.  He  is  in  the 
person  of  the  poor  and  of  the  handicapped  in 
life's  battle.  The  poor  reach  out  their  hands, 
but  He  receives  the  gift. 

How  terribly  destructive  of  the  spirit  of 
Christian  love  is  the  teaching  of  those  who, 
denying  the  Divinity  of  Christ,  deny  also  the 
validity  of  this  promise  of  Christ?  The  scoff- 
ing atheist  in  the  poem  tells  the  devoted  Sister 
who  is  caring  for  the  sick-poor  that  Christian- 
ity has  had  its  day  and  the  answer  of  the  Sister 
is  so  full  of  eloquence  that  it  brands  the  scoffing 
of  infidelity  as  a  crime  against  humanity. 

Has!  Has  it  come?  It  has  only  dawned,  it  will 
come  by  and  by,  , 

O  how  could  I  serve  in  the  wards,  if  the  Hope  of 
the  world  were  a  lie? 

How  could  I  bear  with  the  sights  and  the  loath- 
some smells  of  disease, 

But  that  He  said:  You  do  it  to  Me  when  you  do 
it  to  these? 

I  thirst.  This  is  an  epitome  of  the  strange 
thing  which  we  call  life.  Man  has  a  manifold 
thirst.  He  thirsts  for  knowledge,  he  thirsts  for 
pleasure,  he  thirsts  for  all  the  things  which  we 
call  good  or  beautiful,  his  soul  thirsts  and  all 


Golgotha  103 


his  senses  thirst,  in  one  word,  he  thirsts  for  hap- 
piness. It  is  a  thirst  that  increases  with  the 
years,  and  the  more  man  tries  to  satisfy  it,  the 
keener  it  becomes.  "He  that  drinks  of  these 
waters,  shall  thirst  again,"  said  Christ  to  the 
Samaritan  woman,  and  we  may  say  the  same 
of  those  who  drink  of  the  springs  of  knowledge 
or  of  pleasure. 

The  great  scientist,  Newton,  when  advanced 
in  age  called  some  of  his  friends  to  his  side  and 
said :  "I  know  not  what  the  verdict  of  posterity 
will  be  in  my  regard,  I  know  not  how  they  will 
look  upon  what  are  sometimes  called  intellectual 
triumphs,  but  to  myself  I  seem  to  have  been  in 
the  position  of  a  little  child  playing  on  the  sea 
shore  with  the  great  ocean  of  truth  all  undis- 
covered beside  me."  He  drank  deep  of  the 
springs  of  human  knowledge,  few  have  ever 
drunk  deeper,  but  the  result  in  his  case,  as  in 
the  case  of  others,  was  and  ever  will  be  this : 
He  that  drinks  of  these  waters,  will  thirst 
again. 

The  great  German  poet,  Goethe,  had  a  long 
and  prosperous  life.  He  basked  in  the  sunshine 
of  success,  he  moved  along  the  rose-strewn  path 
accompanied  by  the  music  of  friendly  applause; 
and  yet,  when  at  the  end  of  the  path  he  looked 
back  and  summarized  the  history  of  his  brilliant 


IO4  Golgotha 


career,  he  said  something  like  this:  Men  have 
envied  me,  they  have  regarded  me  as  a  fortunate 
and  a  happy  individual,  but  to  myself  I  seem 
to  have  been  "like  a  poisoned  rat"  running 
hither  and  thither,  tasting  of  this  and  of  that  in 
a  vain  endeavor  to  quell  the  ceaseless  gnawing 
within.  A  vain  endeavor.  He  had  drunk  of 
the  cup  of  pleasure,  but  in  his  case  too,  as  in  the 
case  of  all  others,  the  experience  of  mankind 
has  ever  been:  He  that  drinks  of  these  waters 
shall  thirst  again. 

Nay  even  in  the  sacred  matter  of  faith,  when 
the  light  of  God  illumines  the  intellect  and  the 
goodness  of  God  strengthens  the  will,  so  that 
man  feels  impelled  towards  truth  and  goodness, 
there  is  still  a  thirst.  "We  see  now  darkly  and 
in  a  mirror,"  we  shall  not  possess  the  fullness 
of  truth  until  we  are  privileged  to  gaze  face 
to  face  upon  God  Who  is  eternal  truth.  We  feel 
too  the  ecstacy  of  goodness  from  time  to  time ; 
all  our  yesterdays  become  as  "the  tide-washed 
untrodden  sands,"  and  all  our  to-morrows  loom 
refulgent  with  golden  promises;  but  even  then 
we  know  that  we  are  but  catching  broken  rays 
of  the  happiness  which  God  has  prepared  for 
those  who  serve  Him.  Even  in  the  midst  of 
spiritual  exultation,  the  saints  looked  heaven- 
ward and  exclaimed:  "How  despicable  earth 


Golgotha  105 


seems  when  I  look  up  to  Heaven !"  How  de- 
spicable indeed  are  earth's  joys  when  compared 
to  the  "torrents  of  delight"  and  to  the  unspeak- 
able treasures  of  eternity! 

Man's  life  on  earth  is  a  thirst,  a  ceaseless 
longing  for  the  fountains  of  living  waters.  Look 
again  to  the  Cross,  look  and  listen.  "I  thirst," 
says  Christ.  He  said  the  same  words  to  the 
Samaritan  woman,  and  he  added:  "If  thou 
didst  but  know  the  gift  of  God  and  Who  He  is 
that  sayeth  to  thee,  'Give  Me  to  drink/  thou, 
perhaps,  wouldst  have  asked  Him  and  He  would 
have  given  thee  living  waters."  May  we  not, 
without  departing  from  the  spirit  of  our  study, 
hear  those  same  words  from  the  lips  of  Jesus 
Crucified?  If  we  did  but  know  Who  it  is  that 
says,  "I  thirst,"  we  should  cast  ourselves  in 
adoration  on  the  ground,  or,  with  Magdalene, 
throw  our  arms  about  the  Cross  and  exclaim 
from  the  depths  of  our  souls:  "O  Fountain  of 
Living  Waters,  O  Christ,  Eternal  Son  of  God, 
Thou  Who  didst  say :  'If  any  man  thirst  let  him 
come  to  Me  and  drink/  give  us  always  of  this 
water  that  springeth  up  unto  life  eternal.  Let 
it  flow  in  vivifying  cataracts  over  our  thirst- 
ing souls,  let  it  purify  our  sin-stained  souls,  so 
that  we  may  not  thirst  again  forever!" 


IT  IS  FINISHED 

Jesus,  therefore,  when  He  had  tasted  the  vine- 
gar said:  It  is  finished!  Just  what  an  appear- 
ance the  scene  presented  at  this  time,  is  uncer- 
tain. Some  one  has  suggested  that  "the  midday 
night  is  beginning  to  lift,"  that  the  black  pall 
is  torn  by  the  winds  and  the  silver  lining  on 
the  sable  clouds,  as  they  roll  away,  tell  us  that 
the  sun  is  still  shining.  It  is  a  suggestion  that 
seems  to  be  more  descriptive  of  what  takes 
place  in  the  soul  of  him  who  meditates  on  the 
Passion  than  of  what  actually  took  place  on 
Golgotha.  From  the  sixth  to  the  ninth  hour 
darkness  overshadowed  the  earth,  and  at  the 
ninth  hour,  far  from  decreasing,  the  gloom  and 
the  consequent  fear  increased.  We  must,  there- 
fore, still  view  the  Cross  shrouded  in  darkness 
and  the  figure  of  our  Lord  unhallowed  by  any 
light  from  heaven. 

If  nature  gives  no  comfort,  the  Savior  does. 
He  utters  what  seems  to  be  and  what,  in  reality, 
is,  as  far  at  least  as  we  are  concerned,  a  sigh  of 
relief:  It  is  finished.  Thank  God,  we  very 
naturally  add,  that  it  is  finished.  Our  dear  Lord 
will  suffer  no  more,  the  end  has  come  or  is 
about  to  come  and  all  His  pain  and  sorrow  will 


Golgotha  107 


be  things  of  the  past.  It  is  finished,  the  Pas- 
sion has  ended. 

No,  that  is  not  what  our  Blessed  Lord  means, 
because,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  not  finished. 
He  is  still  in  pain,  He  is  still  hanging  on  the 
Cross,  still  athirst,  still  forsaken!  And  what 
is  more,  the  agony  of  death,  the  separation  of 
soul  from  body  is  yet  to  be !  What  then  is  fin- 
ished, O  dear  Lord? 

At  the  Last  Supper  table,  on  the  preceding 
night,  Christ  addressed  Himself  to  His  Heavenly 
Father  and  said :  "Father  I  have  glorified  Thee 
on  earth.  I  have  finished  the  work  that  Thou 
gavest  Me  to  do."  "If,"  it  has  been  asked, 
"our  Savior  already  finished  the  work  which 
God  had  given  Him  to  do,  why  does  He  repeat 
the  same  words  upon  the  Cross?  If,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  is  only  now  that  the  work  is  fin- 
ished, why  did  He  claim  that  it  was  finished 
when  He  sat  down  to  His  Last  Supper?" 

Our  Divine  Lord  had  two  works  to  accom- 
plish, to  teach  the  world  and  to  redeem  the 
world.  He  was,  in  other  words,  to  be  our  Mas- 
ter and  our  Redeemer.  "Dominus  ac  Redemptor 
N osier T  During  the  three  years  of  His  public 
ministry  He  taught  us  the  way  to  Heaven. 
According  to  some  interpreters,  it  is  to  the  work 
of  Teacher  that  He  refers  at  the  Last  Supper, 


io8  Golgotha 


and  on  the  Cross  to  the  work  of  Redemption. 
But  it  is  not  possible  to  separate  these  two 
phases  of  Christ's  career;  during  His  Passion 
He  taught  more  eloquently  than  ever  and  He 
suffered  from  the  moment  of  His  incarnation. 
Still  we  may  with  propriety  regard  His  public 
life  as  made  up  of  two  distinct  parts,  the  minis- 
try of  the  word  and  the  ministry  of  suffering. 
The  former,  in  a  sense,  is  finished  on  Thursday 
night.  The  other  is  finished  now. 

It  is  finished.  Coming  so  close  upon  the  fulfill- 
ment of  the  prophecy  that  in  His  thirst  they  would 
give  Him  vinegar  to  drink,  the  words  suggest, 
at  once,  that  the  prophecies  are  all  accomplished, 
not  only  those  that  were  spoken  in  the  Old  Law, 
with  so  much  vividness  and  unmistakable  di- 
rectness, but  those  also  which  He  had  Himself 
spoken.  "Behold,  we  go  to  Jerusalem,"  He  had 
said  ten  days  ago,  "when  all  things  shall  be  ac- 
complished which  were  written  concerning  the 
Son  of  Man.  He  shall  be  betrayed  to  the 
Chief  Priests  and  Scribes.  They  shall  condemn 
Him  to  death,  and  shall  deliver  Him  to  the 
Gentiles  to  be  mocked  and  scourged  and  cruci- 
fied." All  that  had  been  written,  all  that  He  had 
said  is  now  accomplished.  It  is  finished. 

O  dear  Lord,  what  more  couldst  Thou  have 
done,  than  what  Thou  hast  done?  He  has  over- 


Golgotha  109 


looked  nothing.  Not  a  jot  or  tittle  of  the 
prophecies  has  been  neglected. 

It  is  finished.  The  work  of  Redemption  is 
complete,  God's  justice  is  satisfied  and  the  gates 
of  Heaven,  closed  by  sin,  are  thrown  open  to 
all  mankind.  Now  more  appropriately  than  ever 
can  we  exclaim  with  Simeon,  as  we  look  upon 
the  Cross:  "Now  Thou  dost  dismiss  Thy  serv- 
ant, O  Lord,  according  to  Thy  word,  in  peace, 
because  my  eyes  have  seen  Thy  salvation  which 
Thou  hast  prepared  before  the  face  of  all  peo- 
ples." The  aged  Prophet  who  was  privileged  to 
take  the  Child  in  his  arms  saw  but  the  begin- 
ning of  our  salvation.  We  who  have  looked 
with  love  upon  the  Cross,  behold  its  accomplish- 
ment. The  work  of  salvation  is  finished ! 

No  man  who  is  capable  of  serious  thought 
can  question  the  reality  of  the  "fall."  The  rec- 
ords of  human  depravity,  the  religions  founded 
on  lust  and  pride  and  every  kind  of  wicked- 
ness, the  human  sacrifices,  the  unspeakable  hor- 
rors of  the  amphitheater,  the  prevalence  of 
infanticide,  the  degradation  of  woman,  the  de- 
filement of  marriage,  purity  despised,  poverty 
and  sickness  made  criminal,  meekness  unknown, 
— all  the  public  and  social  and  domestic  insti- 
tutions made  channels  of  blackest  crime,  pro- 
claim, more  eloquently  than  words  can  express, 


no  Golgotha 


how  before  Christ  the  race  was  in  a  fallen  con- 
dition, how  man  had  become  a  slave  of  Satan 
and  reveled  in  the  inglorious  occupation  of 
feeding  the  swine-passions. 

They  who,  at  present,  deny  the  need  of  re- 
demption, they  who  speak  against  vicarious 
atonement,  are  but  furnishing  additional  proof 
of  the  fall  of  man.  It  is  pride  that  prompts 
them,  for  pride  alone  can  explain  temerity.  They 
disregard  the  teachings  of  the  Old  Testament: 
"He  was  wounded  for  our  iniquities,  He  was 
bruised  for  our  sins."  They  spurn  the  explicit 
assertions  of  our  Divine  Savior:  "This  is  My 
blood  which  shall  be  shed  for  the  remission  of 
sins."  They  reject  the  belief  of  the  centuries 
so  clearly  expressed  by  St.  Paul  in  his  epistle 
to  the  Hebrews  when  he  tells  them  that  "Christ 
by  His  blood  obtained  eternal  redemption,"  and 
so  eloquently  asserted  by  the  Sovereign  Pontiff, 
Benedict  XV,  who  but  recently  informed  the 
world  that  his  policy  is  "to  labor  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  that  for  which  Christ  shed  His 
blood,  the  eternal  salvation  of  all  men." 

It  is  finished.  Hell  is  conquered,  sin  is  des- 
troyed, Satan  is  bound  in  adamantine  chains, 
man  is  free.  If  it  is  finished,  how  is  it  that 
Satan  still  reigns  and  man  is  still  a  slave  of 
sin?  Christ's  part  is  finished,  man's  part  re- 


Golgotha  1 1 1 


mains.  For  Him  it  is  finished;  for  us  it  is  not 
finished.  We  must  avail  ourselves  of  the  privi- 
leges won  for  us  by  the  Savior.  Satan  cannot 
harm  us  unless  we  voluntarily  place  ourselves 
in  his  service.  Sin  has  no  power  over  us  unless 
we  freely  run  into  its  deadly  arms.  Death  itself 
has  no  terrors  because,  if  we  serve  God,  and  the 
service  is  made  easy  by  the  graces  won  for  us 
by  Christ,  death  is  but  a  going  home,  death  is 
but  a  meeting  between  the  soul  and  the  soul's 
best  Friend  and  the  meeting  is  but  the  beginning 
of  eternal  happiness. 

It  is  finished.  The  foundation  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion  is  complete,  the  inauguration  of  the 
New  Law  is  sealed,  the  temple  of  truth  has 
reached  completion  and  is  topped  by  the  Cross! 
What  a  sublime  religion!  What  a  marvelous 
law !  What  an  enduring  temple !  All  men  know 
that  the  aspirations  of  the  race  are  centered 
around  the  Cross.  It  is  the  keystone  of  the 
mighty  arch  which  we  call  history.  With  His 
pierced  hands  Christ  "lifted  empires  off  their 
hinges  and  turned  the  tide  of  centuries  and  still 
rules  the  world."  He  curbed  the  passions  that 
made  wolves  of  men  more  wolf-like  than  the 
wolves,  He  raised  degraded  woman  and  placed 
her  on  a  throne,  a  queen;  He  ennobled  labor, 
changing  it  from  the  vulgar  distinction  of  slaves 


ii2  Golgotha 


into  a  dignity  and  a  duty,  He  elevated  poverty 
from  a  curse  into  the  first  beatitude,  He  cast 
a  halo  around  purity,  He  made  of  marriage  a 
Sacrament  or  a  channel  of  grace,  He  sanctified 
obedience  and  sealed  it  with  His  life's  blood. 
No  class  of  men,  no  condition  of  life,  no  circum- 
stances were  overlooked  by  Him.  The  orphan 
was  henceforth  to  be  sheltered,  the  sick  to  be 
nursed,  the  captive  to  be  liberated,  the  slave  set 
free,  the  innocence  of  childhood  guarded  and  the 
aged  cared  for  by  ministering  human  angels. 

It  is  finished.  Is  there  anything  else  that  He 
has  done  ?  Yes,  the  Savior  of  the  world  finished 
the  program  of  peace  among  nations.  On  Gol- 
gotha, He  erected  a  temple  of  peace,  solid  as 
the  granite  foundations  of  the  earth  and  lasting 
as  the  pillars  of  heaven.  A  temple  of  peace! 
Yes,  it  is  finished,  from  foundation  stone  to 
cross-crowned  pinnacle!  His  part  is  finished. 
The  nations'  part  remains!  If  the  nations  have 
failed  to  do  their  small  part,  no  one  can  say 
without  blasphemy,  that  the  work  of  Christ  was 
not  complete.  The  nations  have  impiously  built 
another  temple  and  tried  other  ways,  but  ring- 
ing down  the  ages  and  echoing  through  the  now 
blood-stained  world,  there  comes  the  cry  of  the 
Savior:  "I  am  the  way,  and  there  is  no  other 
way." 


Golgotha  113 


It  is  finished.  Close  upon  the  words  and 
forming  what  has  been  regarded  as  their  con- 
tinuation and  completion  there  comes  the  last 
expression  of  the  dying  Savior.  "Father,"  He 
cries  aloud,  "into  Thy  hands  I  commend  My 
spirit,"  and  then  bowing  His  head,  He  dies! 
During  life,  He  taught  us  how  to  live;  in  the 
dread  moment  of  death,  He  teaches  an  equally 
important  lesson,  how  to  die.  Eternity  depends 
upon  our  death  and,  in  the  ordinary  disposition 
of  Providence,  apart  from  the  special  intervention 
of  Divine  Grace,  our  death  depends  upon  our 
life.  As  we  live  so  we  shall  die. 

Grant,  O  Lord  Jesus,  by  Thy  Sacred  Passion 
and  death,  by  the  sorrows  of  Mary,  Thy  Mother, 
and  by  Thy  infinite  love  for  us  that  we  may  so 
live,  that  when  the  last  summons  comes,  when 
we  are  forced  to  say,  "it  is  finished,"  we  may 
add  with  strong  faith,  and  firm  hope,  and  child- 
like love,  "Father  into  Thy  hands,  I  commend 
my  spirit!" 


EPILOGUE 

You  may,  if  devotion  urges,  fix  your  gaze 
upon  the  lifeless,  mangled  Body  that  hangs  on 
the  Cross,  you  may  linger  for  awhile  with  the 
bereaved  Mother  and  the  desolate  John,  on  the 
now  silenced  Golgotha.  There  are  many  les- 
sons to  learn.  Beautiful  among  the  sons  of  men 
though  Christ  was,  He  is  now  but  a  leper  and 
as  one  struck  by  God.  He  was  wounded  for 
our  iniquities,  He  was  bruised  for  our  sins ! 
Look  then  upon  the  dead  Christ  and  you  behold 
the  terrible  picture  of  sin,  "framed  upon  the 
Cross !"  Ordinarily,  you  cannot  see  sin,  because 
it  affects  an  invisible  soul,  but  Christ  in  His 
Passion  has  made  sin  visible.  The  mangled  body, 
torn  with  scourges,  pierced  with  nails  and 
drenched  in  blood,  is  an  outward  expression  of 
the  heinousness  of  sin. 

Look  again  upon  the  dead  Christ  and  you  will 
find  the  last  eloquent  appeal  made  by  God  to  the 
human  race.  He  appealed  through  the  prophets 
of  the  Old  Law,  He  appealed  with  greater  force 
through  the  teachings  of  His  Son,  He  appeals 
with  an  eloquence  that  cannot  be  equaled 
through  His  Crucified  Son!  "God  so  loved  the 


Golgotha  115 


world  as  to  give  His  only  begotten  Son  for  its 
salvation." 

Look  upon  the  Cross  and  you  will  learn,  as 
you  can  learn  nowhere  else,  what  the  world 
thinks  of  Jesus  Christ.  "Away  with  Him !",  they 
cried,  "Crucify  Him!"  The  cry  was  echoed 
through  all  the  ages,  it  is  heard  even  in  our  own 
day.  The  servants  of  Christ  are  treated  just  as 
their  Master  was  treated,  the  same  charges  are 
urged  against  them,  "they  are  enemies  of  Caesar" 
and  "they  disturb  the  peace,"  and  the  same  pun- 
ishment is  meted  out  to  them.  The  blinded 
minions  of  the  world,  the  High  Priests  of 
"Natural  Religion,"  the  present-day  imitators  of 
the  hypocritical  Pharisees,  have  raged  and  are 
raging  against  God  and  against  His  Church. 
They  are  appealing  to  the  multitude  through  the 
sordid  press,  they  are  prompting  the  cry:  Away 
with  Him  and  with  His  Church!  In  this  coun- 
try, thanks  be  to  God,  they  have  had  little  suc- 
cess, the  American  people  is,  for  the  most  part, 
too  fair  minded  to  join  the  senseless  rabble,  but, 
— it  is  useless  to  deceive  ourselves, — we  some- 
times applaud  the  senseless  rabble  of  other  coun- 
tries and  thus  give  our  moral  support.  Would 
to  God  that  it  could  be  said  that  we  never  give 
and  never  have  given  material  support! 

It  is  a  sad  thing  to  think  that  in  the  twentieth 


ii6  Golgotha 


century,  notwithstanding  the  lessons  of  the  past, 
men  still  sit  in  council  against  the  Savior  of  the 
world  and  boast  of  driving  Him  and  His  fol- 
lowers into  exile ;  but  though  sad,  it  is  not  with- 
out its  comfort.  By  this  very  fact,  we  can 
recognize  the  servants  of  Jesus  Christ.  "If  you 
were  of  the  world,"  He  has  told  us,  "the  world 
would  know  its  own;  but  because  you  are  not 
of  the  world,  because  I  have  chosen  you  out  of 
the  world,  therefore  the  world  hates  you."  And 
in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  He  has  said: 
"Blessed  are  ye  when  they  revile  you  and  per- 
secute you,  and  speak  all  that  is  evil  against 
you,  untruly,  for  My  Name's  sake.  Be  glad  and 
rejoice,  for  your  reward  is  very  great  in 
Heaven." 

Such  is  the  comfort;  the  servants  can  look  for 
no  better  treatment  at  the  hands  of  the  world, 
than  was  received  by  their  Master.  The  lesson 
is  that  we  must  flee  from  the  spirit  of  the  world, 
avoid  its  maxims  and  its  principles  and  live  al- 
ways and  only  for  God  and  build  our  hopes  in 
Heaven. 

Amid  these  and  similar  thoughts  which  are  in 
part  consoling  and  sad  in  part,  there  comes  one 
which  borders  on  despair.  Jesus  of  Nazareth  is 
dead !  He  is  conquered !  His  friends  secure 
permission  from  Pilate  to  give  a  decent  burial 


Golgotha  117 


to  His  Body,  they  seal  the  tomb  and  retire  to 
their  homes  to  mourn  over  His  loss.  His  enemies 
exult;  the  city  has  been  rid  of  the  Disturber! 
No  more  will  the  people  shout  their  hosannas 
and  proclaim  the  Upstart  King.  Their  remem- 
brance of  what  He  said  about  the  "third  day" 
causes  a  fear  to  linger  in  their  hearts,  and, 
though  they  regard  it  as  one  of  the  many  hal- 
lucinations to  which  Christ  was  subject,  still,  to 
make  assurance  doubly  sure,  they  set  a  guard  of 
armed  men  to  watch  His  sepulchre. 

Now  He  is  vanquished  utterly  and  the  human 
heart  is  chilled  by  the  thought.  If  we  look  back 
through  the  years  and  through  the  centuries, 
we  find  that  there  never  has  been  a  real  con- 
queror. Summon  up  in  imagination  the  mighty 
generals  who  led  their  soldiers  through  pools  of 
blood  to  victory,  the  brilliant  lawmakers  who 
built  kingdoms  and  empires  and  founded  repub- 
lics, the  scientists  who  counted  the  stars  in  the 
heavens,  or  analyzed  the  minerals  of  the  earth 
and  who  boasted  from  time  to  time  of  having 
conquered  the  laws  of  nature.  Where  are  they 
now?  You  know  where  they  are.  They  have 
been  conquered,  every  single  one  of  them,  by 
Death.  "Conquerors  conquered"  is  the  epitome 
of  human  greatness. 

What   a   sweeping  conquest  on  the   part  of 


ii8  Golgotha 


Death,  and,  O  God,  what  an  absolute  failure  on 
man's  part.  Look  back  and  you  see  a  collection 
of  sepulchres  and  monuments  with  the  terrible 
inscription  on  them  all,  "Here  they  lie !"  and  the 
big  black  banner  of  Death  floating  over  the 
tombs  of  the  vanquished  race  of  men.  Look 
around  you,  and  you  will  observe  how  day  by 
day  and  hour  by  hour  the  universal  conqueror 
is  reaping  the  never  failing  harvest.  Look  ahead 
and  you  find  nothing  but  the  certain  prospect  of 
your  own  defeat. 

Alas!  for  poor  human  nature!  Slaves  in  the 
caravan  of  Death  we  are  marching  steadily  for- 
ward to  defeat,  marching  onward  even  now  to 
the  frontiers  of  the  Kingdom  of  Death  whence 
no  man  returns.  It  is  all  very  well  to  exclaim 
with  the  boastful  pride  of  the  poet: 

"Cowards    die    many     times    before     their    deaths, 
The  valiant  never  taste  of  death  but  once." 

It  is  all  very  well  to  put  fear  aside  but  we 
cannot  put  aside  the  fact  that  death  is  certain 
and  that  it  is  most  terrible. 

"O  Death,  all  eloquent,  you  only  prove 
What  dust  we  dote  on  when  'tis  man  we  love." 

We  should  like  to  find  in  the  records  of  his- 
tory a  conqueror  of  Death — and  Jesus  of  Naz- 
areth, Whom  we  have  seen  crucified,  seemed  for 
a  time  to  satisfy  this  desire  of  human  nature. 


Golgotha  119 


He  stood  one  day  at  the  tomb  of  Lazarus  and 
with  a  mighty  voice  exclaimed,  "Lazarus,  come 
forth,"  and  Lazarus  came  forth.  He  met  at 
Nairn  a  funeral  procession  and,  on  inquiry, 
learned  that  the  only  son  of  a  widow  was  being 
borne  to  the  grave.  He  took  the  dead  boy  by 
the  hand  and  said,  "Young  man,  arise,"  and  the 
young  man  arose.  Similarly  He  summoned  back 
from  the  clutches  of  Death  the  daughter  of 
Jairus.  Such  was  indeed  the  import  of  these 
wonderful  accomplishments  that  it  has  been 
truly  written : 

The    worm    within    each    rose's    heart    was    curled 
Until    His   mystic   might   at    Nairn    hurled 
Death's   menace   back   upon   itself   and    stilled 
The   immemorial  wailing  of  the  world. 

Christ  seemed  to  supply  the  only  solace  in 
the  thought  of  death,  but  now  behold,  He  is 
Himself  dead  and  buried  and  an  armed  guard 
is  set  about  His  sepulchre !  With  Him  is  buried 
the  hope  of  the  world,  the  immemorial  wail 
returns,  and  man  must  admit  an  universal  defeat. 

Ah  no!  it  is  not  over  yet.  The  story  of 
Christ's  love  is  not  fully  written.  It  was  Sun- 
day morning,  a  glorious  spring  morning  in  Pal- 
estine. The  fields  were  carpeted  in  green  and 
interspersed  with  white  lilies,  which  waved  be- 
fore the  gentle  morning  breezes  so  that  the  land- 


I2O  Golgotha 


scape  resembled  a  stretch  of  ocean's  palpitating 
breast.  The  winged  songsters  rose  to  greet  the 
rising  sun  that  had  already  sent  forth  his  herald 
rays  to  paint  the  East  with  crimson  and  gold. 
They  entuned  their  sweetest  spring-songs  and 
their  music  mingling  with  the  fragrance  that 
arose,  incense-like,  from  the  meadows  floated 
sweetly  towards  the  throne  of  God. 

It  was,  you  may  say,  a  beautiful  morning,  ex- 
cept for  one  thing.  Down  in  the  dark  ravine 
there  was  a  tomb,  and  what  is  more  it  was  His 
tomb !  O  Christians,  followers  of  Jesus  Christ, 
O  men  and  women  of  every  race,  of  every  creed, 
of  every  age,  there  is,  it  is  true,  a  tomb,  but  it 
is  empty!  The  stone  has  been  rolled  back,  the 
soldiers  have  been  dispersed  and  Jesus  of  Naz- 
areth, who  was  crucified  is  not  to  be  sought 
amongst  the  dead!  Visit  that  tomb  and  read 
His  epitaph.  What  do  you  find :  "Here  lies 
Jesus  of  Nazareth?"  No!  "Here  lies  the  sin- 
less Son  of  Mary?"  No!  "Here  lies  the  Lamb 
of  God  Who  was  unjustly  slain?"  No!  a  thou- 
sand times  No!  His  epitaph  is  dropped  from 
the  lips  of  angels :  "He  is  risen,  He  is  not  here, 
behold  the  place  where  they  laid  Him !" 

Now  you  have  a  Conqueror,  Who  has  not 
been  conquered  by  Death,  now  you  have  One 
Who  conquered  the  universal  enemy,  and  Who 


Golgotha  121 


from  His  empty  tomb  could  exclaim:  O  Death, 
where  is  thy  victory?  It  is  this  conquest,  more 
than  anything  else  that  has  won  for  Him  the 
admiration  of  all  the  world  and  the  adoring  faith 
of  Christians.  Once  during  His  earthly  life  He 
entered  in  triumph  into  Jerusalem.  He  has  come 
down  the  centuries  in  triumph.  The  burst  of 
enthusiasm — "Hosanna  to  the  Son  of  David! 
Blessed  is  He  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord!" — that  re-echoed  through  the  Holy  City, 
has  been  caught  up  in  all  ages,  has  found  ex- 
pression in  all  climes  and  has  stirred  the  human 
heart  to  its  profoundest  depths.  If  there  be  any 
now — and  unfortunately  there  are  some — to 
whom  as  to  the  Pharisees  of  old,  the  joy  of  the 
believer  is  as  gall  and  wormwood,  and  who  in 
their  jealousy  and  pride  would  have  the  people 
hold  their  peace,  they  may  be  answered  as  their 
prototypes,  the  Pharisees,  were  answered:  "If 
these  should  hold  their  peace,  the  very  stones 
would  cry  out." 

Indeed  the  stones  have  cried  out,  if  we  may 
use  this  term  to  describe  the  hearts  of  the  in- 
fidel, the  scoffer  and  the  unbeliever.  Too  much 
importance  is  not  to  be  given  to  the  testimony 
of  the  irreligious  for  the  simple  reason  that  irre- 
ligion  is  the  deepest  dye  of  insincerity  to  which 
the  human  mind  or  heart  is  subject;  it  is  in- 


122  Golgotha 


sincerity  with  God  and  with  oneself  and  from 
those  who  are  insincere  with  their  God  and 
themselves,  it  is  not  reasonable  to  expect  sin- 
cerity in  their  dealings  with  us.  Still  it  will 
do  no  harm  to  listen  to  what  the  very  stones 
have  to  say  of  Jesus  Christ. 

"I  esteem  the  Gospels,"  writes  Goethe,  "to 
be  thoroughly  genuine,  for  there  shines  forth 
from  them  the  reflected  splendor  of  a  sublimity, 
proceeding  from  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ,  of 
so  divine  a  kind  as  only  the  Divine  could  ever 
have  manifested  on  earth." 

"How  petty,"  adds  Rousseau,  "are  the  books 
of  philosophers  with  all  their  pomp,  compared 
with  the  Gospels!  Can  it  be  that  writings  at 
once  so  sublime  and  so  simple  are  the  work  of 
man?  Can  He,  whose  life  they  tell,  be  Himself 
no  more  than  a  mere  man?  .  .  .  What 
sweetness,  what  purity  in  His  ways,  what  touch- 
ing grace  in  His  teachings,  what  loftiness  in  His 
maxims,  what  profound  wisdom  in  His  words ! 
.  .  .  Yes,  if  the  death  of  Socrates  be  that  of 
a  sage,  the  life  and  death  of  Jesus  are  those  of 
a  God!" 

"The  morality  of  Jesus  Christ,"  says  Strauss, 
"is  the  foundation  of  human  civilization."  And 
his  assertion  is  amplified  by  Renan :  "The  moral 
teaching  of  Jesus  Christ  is  the  most  beautiful 


Golgotha  123 


doctrine  that  mankind  ever  received.  .  .  . 
Each  one  of  us  owes  to  Him  what  is  best  in 
himself.  .  .  .  The  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
will  never  be  surpassed." 

Jean  Paul  Richter  corroborates  the  foregoing 
with  a  tribute  to  the  power  of  our  Savior:  "The 
life  of  Christ  concerns  Him  who,  being  the 
holiest  among  the  mighty,  the  mightiest  among 
the  holy,  lifted,  with  His  pierced  hand,  empires 
off  their  hinges  and  turned  the  stream  of  cen- 
turies out  of  its  channel  and  still  governs  the 
ages." 

To  these  testimonies  of  infidels  we  may  add 
that  of  one  who,  though  not  an  infidel,  was 
during  the  greater  part  of  his  life  a  great  bad 
man.  Napoleon  "strode  the  world,  in  his  day, 
like  a  Colossus."  However  devoid  he  was  of 
morality  no  one  will  deny  that  his  intellect  was 
gigantic  and  that,  in  the  seclusion  of  exile,  his 
heart  gradually  settled  down  to  a  calm  equili- 
brium. "I  think,"  he  said  one  day  at  St.  Helena, 
"I  understand  somewhat  of  human  nature  and 
I  tell  you  all  the  heroes  of  antiquity  were  men, 
and  I  am  a  man ;  but  not  one  is  like  Him ;  Jesus 
Christ  was  more  than  man.  Alexander,  Caesar, 
Charlemagne  and  myself  founded  empires;  but 
upon  what  did  the  creations  of  genius  depend? 
Upon  force.  Jesus  Christ  alone  founded  His 


124  Golgotha 


empire  on  love,  and  to  this  day  millions  would 
die  for  Him."  On  another  occasion  he  ex- 
claimed more  briefly:  "I  know  men,  and  I  tell 
you,  Jesus  Christ  is  not  a  man!" 

Other  instances  of  how  the  very  stones  cried 
out  might  be  added  without  end,  but  it  is  always 
more  refreshing  to  listen  to  the  voice  of  the 
children  of  God.  More  refreshing  and  more 
instructive  because  when  the  saints  speak  they 
express  something  more  than  the  emptiness  of 
admiration,  they  speak  of  hope  and  of  salvation. 
When  Peter  and  John  were  apprehended,  and 
asked  to  explain  in  whose  name  they  had  cured 
the  lame  man,  Peter,  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost, 
said  to  them: 

"Ye  princes  of  the  people  and  ancients,  hear: 
If  we  this  day  are  examined  concerning  the  good 
deed  done  to  the  infirm  man,  by  what  means  he 
hath  been  made  whole,  be  it  known  to  you  all 
and  to  all  the  people  of  Israel,  that  by  the  Name 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  of  Nazareth,  Whom 
you  crucified,  Whom  God  hath  raised  from  the 
dead,  even  by  Him  this  man  standeth  before  you 
whole.  .  .  .  Neither  is  there  salvation  in 
any  other.  For  there  is  no  other  name  under 
heaven  given  to  men  whereby  we  must  be 
saved." 

All  very  well,  you  may  say,  Christ  conquered 


Golgotha  125 


Death  and  the  world  proclaims  Him  King  and 
Master,  but  we,  poor  wreak  mortals,  are  still 
doomed  to  suffer  and  die.  Look  again  at  the 
empty  tomb,  look  upon  the  risen  Christ  and 
listen,  with  love  and  with  hope,  to  the  words  He 
speaks  to  you  and  to  all  the  world: 

"I  am  the  Resurrection  and  the  Life.  He 
that  believeth  in  Me,  although  he  be  dead,  shall 
live  and  every  one  that  liveth  and  believeth  in 
me  shall  not  taste  death  forever!"  He  con- 
quered and  He  conquered  for  us ! 

GOD  BLESS  YOU. 


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